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ZDNet Author Biography: Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there,...; more about Christopher Dawson »

ZDNet Resources

An unusual day, part 2 (or "My lease is up! Now what?"): Part 2 of my unusual day, ending with a very different direction and a lot of ideas to stretch my shrinking budget. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Lease, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-05
An unusual day, part 1: Thursday did not go as planned for me. However, it managed to help me rethink the way our teachers want to, can, and should use technology on a daily basis in their classrooms. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Classroom, Teacher, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-05
Edufire raises the bar with new video offerings: Ever dropped a class in college because the professor was just horrific and better relegated to a lab somewhere? New video preview capabilities announced by EduFire today should help shake out the wheat from the chaff in terms of their instructional offerings. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Video, Edufire, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-05
Moodlerooms announces joule platform at EDUCAUSE: Moodlerooms announced today that many of the features that users either built themselves or found via third parties for Moodle are integrated into the company's new joule platform. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Platform, Moodlerooms, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-03
New Live@Edu offerings keep pressure on Google Apps for Education: Microsoft made a number of major announcements today, all designed to up the ante in its battle for business and educational customers with Google's Apps products. The most important for us? Microsoft announced serious expansions of its Live@Edu services, most of which are based on the now-cheaper Exchange and Sharepoint...; Tags: Education, Google Inc., Google Apps, Cloud Computing, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-03

Smart.fm - almost enough to make me want an iPhone: I really don't want an iPhone. I'm holding out for a Droid, just as soon as I figure out some way to justify getting rid of my perfectly adequate BlackBerry. However, the iPhone has lots of apps and one in particular is being unveiled today: Smart.fm's iPhone interface...; Tags: Software, Apple iPhone, Smart.fm, iPhone App, RTI, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-02
Google defines its focus in Apps in 2010: No, it's not Wave. We'll see Wave evolve and find its way into more schools and businesses who are already using Google Apps, but the real focus for the Apps team in 2010 will be improving their Docs/Spreadsheets/Presentation offerings. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Google Inc., Cloud Computing, Team Management, Management, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-02
Is Microsoft a dinosaur to Google's mammal?: Google's and Microsoft's very different approaches to computing, and the history behind them, beg the question, is it time for Microsoft to reinvent itself if it wants to avoid becoming the computing equivalent of fossil fuels? by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Computing, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-11-02
Remember when FrontPage seemed pretty slick?: The idea of a WYSIWYG HTML editor was more than a little exciting before the Web completely exploded. Now, of course, the Web has completely exploded. Over and over. Through booms and busts, until it's at least peripherally involved in much of what we do. Frontpage...; Tags: Web, Microsoft FrontPage, Channel Management, Content Management, Enterprise Software, Marketing, Software, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-29
Ubuntu 9.10 = easiest, cheapest upgrade ever: My budget manager has already told me to be really conservative as I begin the FY11 budgeting process. I have a few sacred cows and some key line items that I know will be funded, but those Windows 7 upgrades I was looking at? Ummm, yeah...I'm not looking at...; Tags: Ubuntu, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Personal Finance, Financial Services, Operating Systems, Software, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-29
Scary Tech: Attack of the Killer Kindles: I don't know what's scarier: my recent obsession with e-readers or the crazy Kindle nonsense flying about. What I do know is that when my editor asked me to name this year's scary tech, the first thing that popped into my head was "Attack of the Killer Kindles!" by...; Tags: Tech, Attack, Security, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-27
What does the Nook need to be Ed Tech's e-book holy grail?: The Nook may not be the holy grail of educational e-readers; I don't think that exists yet. But if its Kindroid lineage can spur a bit of development, we may be a lot closer than we think. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Holy Grail, E-book, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-27
Yes, Ubuntu can absolutely be the default Windows alternative: And I don't just mean for geeks. I mean a real, viable alternative to Windows for many users despite the apparent quality of both Windows 7 and Server 2008. by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Ubuntu, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-27
Any value in Google's Social Search for students?: However, for the average school that has rolled out Google Apps, asking students to list their social networks on their profiles, thereby opting in to Google crawling their external profiles, as well as their friends outside the domain just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. From...; Tags: Google Inc., Social Search, Social Networking, Cloud Computing, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-26
More e-readers - more misconceptions: You know what most of our administrators and teachers listened to on their way home today? All Things Considered. And you know what they're going to be asking for tomorrow? Kindles to replace all those heavy books in kids' backbacks. Sorry, folks. We're just not there...; Tags: E-reader, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-26
Parents would rather talk drugs than math/science with their kids: You've seen the commercials: It's never to early to talk to your kids about drugs. Parents role play how to talk to their son about pot. It's cheesy, but not a bad message, obviously. However, Intel announced last week that they found parents were far more willing...; Tags: Parent, Math, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-26
Netbooks worth the upgrade to Windows 7? Heck yes!: For those who are still using XP Home in our netbook deployments, the $70 volume academic license upgrade is worth the cost of admission. $70 a pop can add up quickly, but in schools wedded to a Windows ecosystem, the advent of a netbook-capable, solid, secure OS in Windows...; Tags: Netbook, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Hardware, Operating Systems, Software, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-26
So about this SIF thing: The Systems Interoperability Framework SIF is something that people in ed tech talk a lot about and yet few understand its potential, its implications, and its hurdles. It just happens to be on my mind since we're about to undertake some pretty big SIF integration projects and I'm working...; Tags: System Interoperability, Systems Interoperability Framework, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-23
If teens are confused by Twitter, what's the right SocMed tool in school?: It isn't that kids are confused by the technology; hand the average millennial just about any Web 2.0 application and they'll be networking very quickly. Just because they understand the tech, though, doesn't mean they understand the relevance. Without relevance, should we bother using it in the classroom?...; Tags: Twitter Inc., Relevance, Tool, Web 2.0, Productivity, Channel Management, Internet, Marketing, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-22
Relax, kids...Windows 7 is just another OS: Sure, it's a nicely polished operating system. But hand it to anyone under the age of 25 and the only question they'll ask is "where's the web browser?" by Christopher Dawson; Tags: Operating System, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software, Christopher Dawson; Blog posts 2009-10-22