christopher dawson

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Back from paternity leave...and inspired

I'm back from paternity leave...A "motivational speaker" today gave me reason to pause for a few hours and come back with a fresh outlook. by Christopher Dawson

Tags: Outlook, Speaker, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-30

If the Crunchpad is dead, what's next for ultracheap Ed tech?

The fabled "Crunchpad", an ultracheap tablet PC dreamed up by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, as has been widely reported on ZDNet and elsewhere, looks like it will remain vaporware. Bummer. Not that any of us were holding our breath for the device. However, a $300 tablet...

Tags: Nook, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-30

Royal Society papers provide science, history resources

The 350th anniversary of Britain's Royal Society (making it the world's oldest scientific institution) will be marked by the release of a vast library of papers online from the likes of Sir Isacc Newton and Benjamin Franklin. This isn't just science nerd stuff, though. This is a treasure...

Tags: Science, Site, Web Site Development, Search, Internet, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-29

Does Chrome OS mean anything for schools?

Readers who don't share my infatuation with all things GOOG will probably expect me to predict that netbooks running Chrome OS will dominate the educational space in a year and save schools and students countless dollars. Believe it or not, though, I don't think this is the case. At...

Tags: School, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Hardware, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-27

Are cheap LCDs a good choice for classroom sharing?

Can low-priced LCD TVs serve most classroom computer demonstration needs? 32" and 40" TVs can often be found under $500. While it's true that LCD projectors have also come down in price considerably, LCD TVs can be wall-mounted and won't need expensive replacement bulbs. by Christopher Dawson

Tags: LCD TV, LCD, Monitors & Displays, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Hardware, Components, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-25

Is it time to go quad-core?

I need a new laptop. My oldest son's laptop finally bit the dust, and he's pretty well attached to it, both for personal and school purposes. As a likely film major, my Mac would serve him well (at least through the first year of college, at which point he'll...

Tags: Quad-core, Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-23

Can Obama make science cool?

On Monday, I wrote about the decline of science education in the US, as well the rise of "unscience" and our growing struggle to compete with China in terms of real innovation. As if he wanted to hand me the perfect segue, President Obama announced the administration's Educate to...

Tags: Workforce Management, Leadership, Strategy, Human Resources, Management, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-23

Falling behind in science? No kidding!

Our school district is providing H1N1 shots to any students whose parents request it. It's an easy way to build some so-called "herd immunity" in the age group most vulnerable to this particular flu strain. In fact, my 7-year old was the very first in the district to...

Tags: Vaccine, Flu, H1N1 Flu, Science Education, Healthcare, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-23

Who's afraid of the big bad cloud?

Tech news has been dominated this week by Google's announcements regarding their upcoming Chrome OS. Plenty of geeks are excited; so are plenty of industry insiders and business analysts. You know who aren't excited? Those who say we aren't ready for an OS dependent upon "The Cloud." by...

Tags: Tech New, Operating Systems, Software, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-20

YouTube automatic captioning: one more reason GOOG's not evil

Earlier this week I noted that YouTube's partnership with Univision was one more reason to make the web service available in schools. Now, Google has introduced some more useful YouTube technology: automatic captioning. by Christopher Dawson

Tags: Google Inc., YouTube Inc., Business Structures, Cloud Computing, Web Services, Channel Management, Finance, Enterprise Software, Software, Marketing, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-20

How to add value, not just more tech, with Web 2.0+

My presentation to the Florida Council of Independent Schools went well, both from a content and a technical perspective, since I was able to do it remotely, all with Google Apps. Here is the presentations, as well as a few takeaways from the question/answer session. by Christopher Dawson

Tags: Web, Presentation, Cloud Computing, Channel Management, Marketing, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-19

NComputing announces new Microsoft partnership

I've featured NComputing a few times in this blog, largely focusing on their solutions that turn a single workstation into as many as 10 workstations using thin client technologies. In particular, I wrote about NComputing's successful bid beating out Intel and OLPC to provide thin-client computers to as many...

Tags: Virtualization, Partnership, Thin Client, Server, Microsoft Corp., Computing, NComputing, Microsoft Windows, Thin Clients, Terminal Services, Business Structures, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Finance, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-18

OpenSUSE Education announces Li-f-e 11.2

Li-f-e is OpenSUSE's Linux for Education product. While this product has been quietly maturing, it has, to some extent fallen off my radar. However, the latest features announced today with this release of OpenSUSE's educational distribution have me downloading as fast as my BitTorrent client will allow. by...

Tags: Education, Novell OpenSuse, OpenSUSE Education, Li-f-e, Linux, Aerospace & Defense, Operating Systems, Software, Manufacturing, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-17

YouTube/Univision deal a huge resource for teachers

Here's one from the "One more reason not to block YouTube" files: Univision will be posting its content for free on YouTube. The details announced yesterday provide easy access to programming online for a quickly growing segment of the US population. Just as importantly from an educational perspective,...

Tags: YouTube Inc., Material, Corporate Communications, Internet, Marketing, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-17

My new daughter is a lot like Linux

OK...I promise, this will be my last post this week about my new little daughter. Really. No matter what cute things she does, I'll limit my oohing and ahhing to Twitter. However, as I was changing her diaper for the umpteenth time today, I got to thinking...

Tags: Linux, Operating Systems, UNIX, Open Source, Microsoft Windows, Desktops, Software, Hardware, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-15

From the ashes of Geode, AMD brings Bobcat with 1:1 possibilities

OLPC's first laptop, the XO has been both praised and criticized for many things. Perhaps most significant was its incredibly low power consumption, critical for use in areas with very limited electrical capacity. Key to this power consumption was the AMD Geode processor, an utterly anemic piece of...

Tags: Power Consumption, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., One Laptop Per Child Project, Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-13

Guess who else is married to paper?

The real problem that bothers me more than anything else, though, given the state of database and data mining technologies and the general interconnectedness of everything we do, is the inability of any of many information systems to talk to more far-flung systems. by Christopher Dawson

Tags: Data Mining, Business Intelligence, Marketing Research, Databases, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Marketing, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-12

Is Google's Go language worth teaching or learning?

Whether they are teaching the languages themselves or are using the languages to teach CS concepts, many secondary and post-secondary schools teach everything from Java to C to Python to Perl to Ruby. Does Go add anything to the mix that our students can use if they don't plan...

Tags: Google Inc., Language, Scripting Languages, Programming Languages, Development Tools, C/C++, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Software Development, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-11

Intel e-reader combines Atom processor and accessibility

Intel announced an innovative e-reader today that wants nothing to do with being a Kindle-killer. This e-reader, in fact, arguably has more educational implications than the current generation of e-readers. Intel's product, demonstrated below, is designed to turn written text into spoken words and can convert either text...

Tags: E-reader, Processor, Intel Corp., Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-10

It's a girl! (or Ed Tech, 6 years hence)

Regular readers and followers of my Twitter feed will know that yesterday was pretty eventful. My wife and I (well, mostly my wife, but I did make some moderate contribution) had a baby girl who currently remains nameless (we're leaning toward Penelope, but she was delivered by c-section so...

Tags: Web Application, Social Media, E-books, Semantic Web, Cloud Computing, Personal Technology, Internet, Christopher Dawson

Blog posts 2009-11-10