My Beauty Best Teacher

I love to see how others have their iPads laid out. I actually have my iPhone and iPad with prominent apps in the same places so I never have to hunt. Here are my screens and notes about current rationale for how I organize things. Even if you have a Droid or something else, the apps and the concepts may help you as you decide how you're going to organize things.

Your 5 Important Electronic Desktop Decisions

Having an organized, productive workspace is important. You have 5 very important electronic desktop decisions that can have a big impact on your life and your focus:

1. Your computer desktop
2. Your browser start screen and toolbars (I use firefox browser sync and a custom igoogle page.)
3. Your mobile phone start screen
4. Your tablet device start screen
5. Your media diet (thanks Mark Hurst - author of Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overloadfor this one.) Your media diet is what media sources will I attend to daily

In this post, we'll talk about how I tackle #3 and #4 on this list.

Home Screen- iPad
I "Pareto" everything. What are the 20% of things that give me 80% of the benefit of my life? These need to be in my face on my home screen shouting to be touched and used. What are the things I hunt for? If it is an icon on my home screen, I use it every day.









Home Screen - iPhone
You'll notice that I left the middle row on my iPad out on my iPhone. I did this because I feel like I look for the icons relative to the edge of the screen. So, I will look for the bottom icons relative to the bottom. Also, my tray at the bottom is different but I like it that way.










Photographer Folder- iPad
I like to name most folders by who I am so I can picture myself as that and am reinforcing my thought patterns to get out of life what I want to be. In life, the journey is the destination. Now that photos are synced via my devices, I use these apps even more to doctor photos taken via iPhone. (I literally took a screenshot on my iphone and in less than a minute, the photos were on my ipad, ready to be uploaded into the first draft of this post on BlogPress.)








Photographer Folder- iPhone







Dashboard Folder- iPad
This folder holds my hottest tools and apps I need to get to. I use these items a lot and want to be reminded of them. If it is in my dashboard on my iPhone it is also here in exactly the same order.







Dashboard - iPhone







My Tools Folder- iPad
The utilities and tools that help. I follow the same rule as I have for dashboard.








My tools -iPhone
iPhone has some things that iPad doesn't and those tools are here.







My Thought Leader Folder (Thought Ldr)
Note: my most important reads are ON the home screen of my iPad but I want a variety of news sources at my fingertips so I can read several sources of info. This is on my second screen on my iPhone because iPad is my electronic paper, typically. This is another example of how I'm trying to program myself to think in a way that I want to be.








My Music Folder - iPad
More interfaces to find new music that have text features here.








My music folder - iPhone








My second Screen- iPad
Here, I want my favorite things in front of me that will lead me to the related folder on the right. I look at this screen pretty often.







Second screen iPhone
These are folders based on who I want to be. Even if I don't go in them, I look and read over the folder names daily because they keep front and center who I want to be. When I feel I am lacking in an area or badges are screaming at me, I go there and work on it as I travel.

There are two folder names you may be curious about so I will explain them. The 65% folder is from a statement made in a great book on personal productivity management called Personal KanBan (Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life.) The authors point out that highways start becoming parking lots at about the 65% full level. When I overbook myself I become unproductive, so the apps there help me manage myself to give myself some leeway. You can't manage time, you can only manage yourself. I do not have to say yes to everything. 65% reminds my goal should be to hit that threshold for my waking hours- although I struggle with doing too much. (If you want me to share what is in these folders, let me know and I'll work on a future post.)

Aire- Money is a struggle for many of us who got sucked into the lies the credit card companies told us in the 80's and 90's. I am sad to say that I fell for those lies and have spent the better part of the last 10 years paying dearly. Losing our life savings in the pecan grove in the flood of 94 and floating flat classroom projects on credit cards hasn't helped but we consistently work to pay down our debt and live below our means. I dream of being an aire  one day but will not put limits on it. (I was listening to a Brian Tracy audiobook Million Dollar Habits on the characteristics of millionaires the other day and heard the average millionaire goes broke 3.2 times. I called my husband and said, "Good news, honey, we only have .2 times to go.")

Wishing won't get you your dreams. Find out what those who have what you want do and emulate those behaviors and you will get the same results. Successful and unsuccessful people both hate doing the same things- the difference is that successful people do them anyway. (Another Brian Tracy paraphrase.)




So, my folders are: 65%, Aire, Archivist, Artist, Athlete, Author, Chef, Christian, Connectivist, IPhone, Maestro, Minimalist, Newshound, R&R, Thought Ldr, Traveler

Third screen -iPad
My school app dashboard and other items that were on 2nd screen of iPhone in those folders.




Fourth screen - iPad
My son's study screen. This is where I keep the apps my 4th grader needs to do homework and study. We consistently do the first three games every day.





Hope this gives you ideas but I also want to see your screens. Please share your productivity strategies. Hashtag: #mlearning or #ipadchat

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Nontsikelelo Veleko lives and works in Johannesburg. She is a highly original photographer and project manager/co-coordinator at the Market Photo Workshop, where she previously trained in the art of photography.

via FlyGirls

African Loft points us to the award-winning work of photographer James Iroha Uchechukwu

The website I'm reviewing today targets a very unique audience. I probably won't be using this site in my classroom, but I could see it being wonderful for yearbook or photography classrooms.

The technology I'd like to share today is a website called CameraSim, and it's main feature is an interactive SLR camera simulator.

The simulator features a moving subject for the photographer to work with. The subject is a little girl, standing outside in front of a playground, and she's holding a pinwheel that is spinning crazily in the wind.

This website allows the user to play with the "camera functions" (that simulate a real SLR camera) and try to get the best shot possible.

CameraSim allows users to adjust 7 functions of a usual SLR camera: lighting, distance, focal length, mode, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. It also gives a short definition/description of these terms underneath the background image and sample shot.

I'm honestly disappointed that I can't think of any reason to use this in my own classroom; students usually love (and benefit from) simulations like this so much! In any case, I'll be passing the link to CameraSim onto all the yearbook/journalism/photography teachers I know!

Looking at Paul Sikas's photography. "...The simplicity and complexity,the proximity and remote-city shaping the messages emanate through the strangeness of the scenes such as that of the Asana and Asita Diallo, the ladies with very long bodies ,or that of young people putting out fire flames with drops of water from small plastic pockets...",Paul Fieux Nkoumo,

Via memeorandum, I see that Sarah Palin is accused of bringing a hairdresser with her on her trip to Haiti. In typical mass media fashion, the major pundits have jumped into the fray in the absence of any other details and had a lot of fun making a big deal about this issue. Apparently in liberal world, women are not allowed to look good (indulge now if you want in your own personal bashing on the personal looks of Helen Thomas or Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi), although men are supposed to always be fashionable, and no questions or comments are to be made when Obama brings his stylist with him on trips.

This incident once again speaks the the raging sexism that continues to exist in politics in our nation. Last election, Sarah Palin was a very low paid Governor and had very little money to go buy the fashionable clothes needed for such a high-profile election, and so was given many expensive outfits to wear in all of the campaign events she was involved with. Those clothes were later auctioned off and raised lots of money for charity. The media spin on it was that she was a typical woman who cashed in on her fame by going shopping. On the other hand, last election Obama was a relatively wealthy Senator who had enough money to buy fashionable clothes, and was given many expensive outfits to wear, and his wife and daughters were also given many expensive outfits to wear, and they kept them all. The media spin on this was that he and his family were fashionable, they were put on the cover of GQ and Rolling Stone on the basis of their fashion, and the meme was that he was being a typical man and looking good in fancy clothes. Sexism reared its ugly head and played a role.

This incident is to be recalled in the light of recent events. The Associated Press recently released a photo from Haiti of Palin captioned, "Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan's Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday Dec. 11, 2010. Palin arrived Saturday in Haiti as part of a brief humanitarian mission. Dieu Nalio Chery / AP". The Daily Mail and Huffington Post both duly follow the lead of their liberal partner in the media with stories about Palin being ready for a photo-op and Palin saying something dutifully girly.

The reality? The person who was doing Palin's hair was actually her daughter, Bristol Palin. Via the Free Republic:

The photo does indeed show Sarah Palin standing with her husband Todd as a woman whose face is obscured uses two hands to fix the hair on the right side of Palin's head. However, one can observe that the woman is white, with her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a white shirt with a bulky scarf and dark pants.

In other photos from Saturday, Todd and Sarah Palin's white, brunette, eldest daughter Bristol, who accompanied her parents on the trip to Haiti, is wearing the exact same clothing and ponytail as the "hair stylist" in the AP photo. That's right, what the Palin-hating AP and others fail to report is that the "hair stylist" is Bristol Palin.

The AP photographer who sent the caption would have known that it was Bristol Palin, but by not mentioning her the AP was able to do a media hit on Palin but still be able to claim they told the "truth" with the caption.

Pictures accompany the story to demonstrate the lack of morality and intelligence demonstrated by AP, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, and any other liberal media outlet that ran with this story.

It is liberals who are willing to play on sexism, even when they know the basis of the fear is lies, in order to win your votes. The appropriate response to that sort of behavior is to punch liberals in the face. Since doing that will probably net you a felony, option two is to vote out of office anyone who demonstrates any liberal tenancies.

For your reading pleasure, try these books by Sarah Palin: America by Heart : Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag or Going Rogue: An American Life.

UPDATE: Via Doug Ross:

To reiterate, a daughter helps fix a loose strand of her mother's hair, and it becomes an international scandal. Amazing. James Lewis is right: for some reason, the idea of President Sarah Palin terrifies the Left. Which is why I grow more comfortable with the idea by the day.

The background to a painting is often a forgotten element when a composition is set up. An empty and featureless area could be a problem unforeseen until the completion of the painting. This could ruin the artwork, regardless of how well the objects have been painted. How does the beginner overcome the problem of empty backgrounds in a painting?

How a Background can Ruin a Painting

The following practices are often the causes of unsatisfactory backgrounds in painting.

• Giving sole consideration to the objects within a composition, without thinking about the background shapes, for exmple when composing a still life setting.
• Viewing non-solid objects, such as clouds, reflections and shadows as incidental
• Using a neutral or pale colour for backgrounds. Similarly using one colour to represent a background within a painting, such as green for landscapes or blue for the sky
• Having too much going on in the background, causing loss of focal points within a painting
• Painting the background from memory, resulting in an idealised background which will fail to convince.

Background Colours to Painting

A good composition in painting can be achieved if the background is given equal importance as the foreground. These two elements to a composition are known as “negative” and “positive” shapes. Positive shapes are the objects themselves. Negative shapes are the spaces in between. The following suggestions on what to do with negative shapes may help solve the problem of what to do about the backgrounds in paintings.

• As well as looking at the shapes of the objects within a painting, give equal consideration to the shapes of the spaces between the objects. Look out for an imbalance in distribution. For instance, is there a large area of negative space within one area of the composition? If so, rearrange the objects or shift the viewpoint.
• Look out for any linear echoes which may jar the painting, such as too many vertical lines which may remain unnoticed in the background until the painting is completed.
• Simple elements make effective backgrounds, such as a pebbledash wall or crazy paving. Rustic wood, brick, climbing ivy, particularly under oblique lighting, add a textural element to a painting, which can be achieved by a painting technique known as Sgraffito.
• Use backgrounds to create contrast in hues, as well as texture. A background containing a cool palette adds interest to a foreground consisting of warm colours
• Juxtaposing complimentary colours such as violet and yellow, or blue and green will create a shimmering effect and add focal points to a painting. Introducing neutral colours will tone down a background that might be too garish

To heighten awareness of backgrounds, examine photographic snapshots and look for background elements which the photographer may not have been aware of. Use the same practice when deciding on a background for a painting.

What Makes a Good Background in Painting?

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Non solid elements within a painting could create effective backgrounds if given equal consideration to solid objects. Textures in clouds, reflections in water and dappled shadows could provide a focal point. Further ideas for backgrounds for paintings could be clouds formations, such as a mackerel sky, a silhouette on a curtain or a foliage cascade.

Links on Oil Painting Advice

• Oil Painting Demonstrations
• Oil Painting books
• Art materials

In the NYTimes Karly Domb Sadof proflies the work of Mimi Mollica, who states:

courtesy of Mimi Mollica

“For me, it was important to portray a different Africa than the one of war, natural disasters and diseases,” said Mr. Mollica, who is based in London. “I wanted to portray an everyday Africa, one that has to deal with the major issue of development.”

More here

The artist wishing to tackle dog portraiture for the first time may encounter problems with making the dog look convincing. The fur looks too neat or uniform, the eyes almost human, the muzzle area a little cartoonish, culminating in an amateurish dog portrait. What art techniques can the artist use to achieve effective dog oil paintings?

How Not to Paint a Dog’s Head

Painting Dogs with Realism Rachel Shirley

To make improvements to a dog oil painting, the artist must identify practices at fault which get in the way of achieving professional dog portrait. This might be:

• Guess-working areas of the dog’s head due to poor photographic reference.
• Subconsciously making connections between a dog’s features and human features causing human characteristics to leak into the dog portrait.
• Portraying dog features in an idealised or generalised fashion, as opposed to what the eye actually sees. For example, all dogs’ upper mouths are posterior-shaped, all dogs’ noses look like black buttons and the muzzle area protrudes from the upper face, etc.
• Using only white to illustrate the dog’s teeth and eyeballs around the irises.
• Using lines to represent the edges to the dog’s features, such as the nose or ears, where no lines may actually be seen.
• Using any brown, black beige or white to illustrate the dog’s fur.
• Using any brown, blue or green to illustrate the dog’s irises and then punctuating each with a black dot for pupils and finishing off with a white highlight.
• Forgetting to periodically look at the dog photograph when copying the dog portrait.

How to Photograph a Dog’s Face

Good photographic reference is essential to any dog portrait, for no dog will sit still for long (unless when asleep). If possible, take several photos of the dog, in order to select the best one. Natural daylight is always best. Side-lit will bring out contours of the dog’s face. Good lighting will also enable the photographer to use a high shutter speed with high resolution, which is essential for animal photography. Avoid flash photography, as this will make the subject matter appear flat.

Secrets to Painting a Great Dog Portrait

With good photographs, improvements to dog portraits are possible, but the following advice for pet artists will also create a more professional painting of a dog’s head.

• Transpose the drawing of the dog as accurately as possible, for this will form the foundation of the painting. Use a lightbox or projector if necessary.
• To prevent preconceptions about how a dog’s face should look like, turn the photograph and the dog painting upside down. This will cause the image to dissolve into unfamiliar shapes, forcing the brain to make sensitive observations about the dog.
• Look out for subtle colour shifts and tones within the dog fur. Violets, crimsons, ochres and creams can be found in dog hair. Highlights often contain a little blue or mauve, blacks sometimes contain crimsons.
• Dog’s teeth and eyeballs often contain darks which give them form. Look out for blues, violets and browns as wells as white. Dog’s gums and tongues can be black, brown, mauve or maroon as well as red or pink.
• Not every division between features require outlines. The contours of a dog’s snout may not always be visible; other delineations may be pale in colour as well as dark.

Oil Painting Technique for Pet Portraits

Great techniques for a dog portrait can be found in glazing and dry brushing. Applying two or three layers of thinned oil paint can be used to improve upon the last layer and to create rich colours, often seen in dog’s fur. The following are also worth consideration.

• It is easy to edit the background to a dog painting. Using a contrasting colour will make the dog appear more striking. A warm ochre for a dog exhibiting cool colours, such as blue-black or snow-white. Or how about a dark blue background for a toffee-coloured dog? Avoid garish colours that could rob the focal point from the dog.
• Smooth backgrounds can be achieved by gently stroking a clean soft cloth over the paint layer to rid of unwanted brushmarks. Repeat with the next layer once dry to achieve a high finish.
• Look out for different-coloured highlights on the dog’s fur such as in the eyeballs, the rims, around the snout, the ears and the lips, which might be eggshell blue, pastel pink or cream.
• Similarly look out for various darks: blue-blacks, crimson-blacks and violet-blacks, which could be found beneath the chin, ears or in the mouth.
• Highlights from moisture around the tongue, snout and lips can be suggested by dragging neat white onto selected areas from a fine sable.

Art Materials for Dog Portraiture

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Sable brushes are vital for detail such as around the eyes and the hair. Large areas and glazes can be applied with fan brushes or wide hog brushes. Linseed oil can be added to the oil paint to add transparency and flow, ideal for glazing techniques. The artist who wishes to apply glazes quickly can use alkyd oil paints instead, for it dries quickly. I find the following oil colours ideal for dog portraits: titanium white, burnt sienna, burnt umber, French ultramarine, pthalo blue, permanent rose and cadmium red. Reserve black only for the pupils. And of course, look out for other colours in the dog, some of which could be bizarre.

Related Links on Oil Painting

• Art books on oil painting techniques

• PediaPress – Catalog

  This is the catalog of books from Pedia press. While some editors are wikipedians, it is interesting to me how one of the top books is American Warplanes of WWII that has one editor. It looks like you can take it and pull from wikipedia and then edit. This is very interesting. While it is not new news about pediapress, when it first came out we didn't have such examples to review.

  tags: education news

• Application for Flat Classroom® Project 2011-2012

  Current application dates for Flat Classroom projects.
  I'll be running NetGenEd and co-planning Eracism with Julie as well as work with the book club starting in February.
  
  Flat Classroom Project - application deadline January 23, 2012 for FCP12-1
  Digiteen - application deadline February 1, 2012 for Digiteen 12-1
  'A Week in the Life...' - application deadline February 15, 2012 for AWL12-1
  Eracism - application deadline February 30, 2012 for Eracism 2012
  NetGenEd - application deadline February 1, 2012 for NetGenEd 2012
  
  
  APPLY NOW! to become a Flat Classroom® Certified Teacher. Courses will run starting in September and November 2011, as well as March 2012.
  Global Education Conference 2011

  tags: flatclass education globaled edu_news

• Skitch for iPad! - Evernote User Forum

  Skitch for the Ipad is here. This whiteboard drawing, mind mapping ipad tool saves to evernote. If you love evernote, this is a must download tool.

  tags: eduapp education evernote skitch app edu_news

• Dabbleboard - Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration - Interactive whiteboard software

  An online collaboration whiteboard. You can use it for free. Try using this for mindmapping and brainstorming between teams.

  tags: eduapp education collaboration edu_news

• 10 predictions for 2012 | Daniel Pink

  Dan Pink's predictions for 2012, bound to have some people talking.

  tags: education news 2012 prediction edu_news

• Lytro

  Dan Pink predicted that next year's hot technology item is going to be the Lytro camera. It captures everything and lets you focus afterwards. It looks very cool but it is one of those things I need to see to understand. Anyone using one yet?

  tags: education technology edtech news photography

• Recipients of 2011 Global Forum Educator Awards Announced: Evening event hosted by Microsoft Partners in Learning recognizes 18 educators around the world for their innovative uses of technology in the classroom.

  Great announcement about the winners of Microsoft's Global Educator Awards program. As a judge for the US competition, the coding guide is an amazing piece of research-based evaluation of teaching methods that should be shared. Unfortunately, this awards announcement has NO hyperlinks. It always makes me upset when teachers are recognized without Twitter handles, links to their efolios. If we want to disseminate best practice, it should be done using the web. Static press releases, especially for something like this, are a waste of space. now, I have to search for all of these things.

  tags: education news teachers

• American Teacher | Microsoft Partners in Learning

  A new movie "the American teacher" is coming out and Microsoft is coordinating the community screening of this film based upon the New York Times Best Seller "Teachers Have it Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers" produced by Vanessa Roth and narrated by Matt Damon. This website lets you order the DVD or volunteer to host a screening. I cannot find a release date on the site.
  
  I hope it is balanced. Teachers aren't perfect but it is not ok how teachers are being treated. Unfortunately, very few people are talking about just teachers -- it seems to be focused on union vs. anti union at this point in politics with teachers caught in between.

  tags: education news teachers microsoft videos edu_news

• So.cl

  This is the Microsoft Research so.cl website (pronounced social) that is being tested in a few universities. I find it incredibly interesting that students sign in using Facebook instead of Windows Live ID, the preferred sign in for other services.

  tags: education news socialmedia microsoft edu_news

• Will the Google-FTC Buzz Settlement Butt Into Larry Page's Social Mission? - Forbes

  For those comparing the FTC's stand against Facebook with Google Buzz, here is the Forbes article on the April 2011 Google Buzz settlement. We will have our Digiteen students looking at this material as they discuss privacy.

  tags: education news privacy digital_responsibilities digital_literacy

• Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: 'We've Made A Bunch Of Mistakes' - Forbes

  Facebook faces 20 years of privacy audits by the Federal Trade Commission. Similar to an agreement with Google Buzz,this shows the FTC's commitment to project consumer privacy. (Any wonder Google Buzz is going bye- bye.)

  tags: education facebook news privacy digital_safety digital_responsibilities

• Google's Opt-In Facial Recognition Avoids Facebook's Missteps - Security - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

  New Google+ service Find My Face lets you opt in to photo tagging. For information on this service and how Google is trying not to repeat some of the "mistakes" of Facebook. However, some would argue that mistakes of Facebook have also been what made it wildly popular.

  tags: education. socialmedia google news digital_communications

• Gaffe prompts official to resign - World News - MSN News UK

  It seems harmless but sometimes just commenting on Facebook in the normal course of business causes problems. Now that every person on Facebook literally has a fan page (people can follow you without you having a fanpage) you are going to see this happen more often. If you really want to share with your friends, this certainly gives rise to websites like Path that only let you friend up to 150 people and keep things very private. Public officials may be left with no other option. Show me a person who doesn't say something politically incorrect and I'll show you someone in the graveyard. We all mess up.

  tags: education news socialmedia digital_responsibilities digital_communications

• Google Apps Education Training Center

  Free Google Apps training center. This will take you through the tools that are part of Google apps for education. Share this with your teachers and students.

  tags: education google eduapp traning edu_news

• Age requirements on Google Accounts - Google+ Help

  "The following age requirements apply for owners of a Google Account (with the exception of accounts in Apps for Education domains):
  
  Spain: 14 or older
  South Korea: 14 or older
  Netherlands: 16 or older
  All other countries (including the US): 13 or older
  
  Keep in mind that specific products may have additional age requirements. For instance, Google+ requires users to be 18 or older."

  tags: education news google

• Frequently Asked Questions about Google Account and Age Requirements - Accounts Help

  I'm seeing more information about children activating G+ accounts and putting in an age that is "too young" to have an account (under 18.) Here are the instructions for reactivating an account (which involve a credit card charge that is then removed.) As more kids move to G+ this will be a problem. I told my students to stay away from G+. Of course, having them on Google apps for domains helps you on this as the terms of service are between the school and Google and with parent permission, you are accepting the terms of behalf of the students.

  tags: education news google edu_news

• Why researchers want to overhaul the Gregorian calendar | MNN - Mother Nature Network

  Give up accuracy and go for convenience? Wish your birthday or Christmas was on the same way every year? Researchers at Johns Hopkins think we need a new calendar. What do you think?

  tags: education calendar news

• iPads and the Embarrassment Factor - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education

  Fascinating read from a professor about the response of his graduate students when they all received ipads. Some felt that by carrying them they came across as elitist. Perhaps it is because so many people want them and they are still very expensive. Very interesting read.

  tags: education news ipad

• Times Higher Education - BIS research to study private providers

  British government is studying how effectively private and alternative suppliers provide higher education services. As educators prime for the upheaval to learning that is already upon us, institutions of higher education are being eyed as places for potential cost savings and to determine if education can be delivered more effectively in other ways. They also looked at some US studies as they prepare this study.

  tags: education edreform edu_news

• Microsoft Working On Social Network For Students

  Microsoft not going for social networking but for educational networking. Before you roll your eyes, the fact is that overlaying educational networks on top of social networks is rife with problems. This is being tested at University of Washington, Syracuse University and New York University. There are many benefits to keeping work and personal separate and educational networks may be a great asset if done right, to the education space.

  tags: flatclass globaled elearning education edu_news

• Email blackout: Victory for workers or last gasp for trade unions? | ExtremeTech

  Volkskwagen agrees to turn of blackberries after hours as part of a union agreement. While I don't know a lot of teachers connected via blackberries,I do personally know the complexities of global collaboration in schools. We must learn to balance work and home and know when to disconnect but then again, a work environment can become so fast paced that everyone seems to expect the others that they should work 24/7. Yet another reason to advocate checking email 2-3 times a day - let everyone know when you will be available and stick to the schedule.

  tags: balance productivity news edu_news

• Connect anything to the cloud with Twine | ExtremeTech

  New project started by 2 MIT students.Twine seeks to help you easily access your home remotely. The small bar-of-soap looking object monitors the temperature and movement of the device usinga simple app called spool. Increasingly computing is about intertwining with our lives.
  
  I'm going to draw another conclusion here that may bother some of you. As we increasingly use our smart phones to control our homes, let people in the door, monitor things,are we causing danger and/or damage by denying students the right to access their phone, say, for example, if the house says it is on fire and mom and dad are out of town.
  
  I think we're going to have to coexist with cellular and smart phone technologies. It is inevitable but it is also about behavior. A child wouldn't have 1,000 emergencies in a day ( a text message isn't an emergency) but may have one that becomes a big deal and a big liability.

  tags: education news technology

• Gladwell vs. Shirky: A Year Later, Scoring the Debate Over Social-Media Revolutions | Threat Level | Wired.com

  If you like controversies between leading thinkers, you'll want to read wired.com's overview of the verbal jousting between Clay Shirky and Malcom Gladwell over the importance of social media in social uprisings.  I think this author has a very neutral perspective that is valuable for evaluating this discussion between two very influential people.
  
  The thing I find odd is that Gladwell in his book Outliers talks about the importance of "mavens" and their influence. Surely, mavens online can have more influence than ever before. I'm not sure how he can forget his own work in Outliers as he puts down the importance of social media in politics.

  tags: education socialmedia news

• Transistors made from cotton yarn, t-shirt computers incoming | ExtremeTech

  T-shirt transistors. Wearable computing is very close. I doubt it will look like it does on the fantastic model in this post, but there are uses we cannot imagine as of yet. It would be fun to have students read this and invent the future of wearable computing. Or you could do this as a writing assignment and have them write about it.

  tags: education news technology

• Why Hasn't Google Responded to Death Threats on Google+?

  Big controversy running through Google plus. Because controversial photographer Brandon Campeaux had over a quarter of a million followers, they are connected to just about everyone. He left Google+ in a huff and deleted his account when he says Google refused to respond to death threats against him. Word is,some of the people he asked to help him "are on vacation." 
  
  On another note, once a Google+ post is reshared, you can no longer delete it. This is perhaps a very interesting case study for whether Google+ is ready to grow. By the way, Myspace still has more active users than Google+.

  tags: education news socialmedia digitalcitizenship

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