All posts by James Clay

news

Today is Safer Internet Day

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The BBC reports on what is happening on Safer Internet Day.

Safer Internet Day is being marked around Europe with events to educate children and parents about net dangers.

Themed events will reveal the risks of sharing too much personal data and warn children that their virtual friends may not be who they say they are.

Public events will encourage parents to oversee their children’s online life so they know who they are talking to.

In the UK schools are being encouraged to run assemblies that discuss how children should behave online.

Read more.

nokia

Nokia aiming to replace paper maps

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BBC News is reporting on how Nokia want you to replace your paper maps with a map on yur mobile.

Nokia has launched navigation tools designed to make the paper street map obsolete for pedestrians.

The firm’s next generation of digital maps gives real-time walking directions on the mobile phone screen, just like sat-nav systems which guide drivers.

“Nokia is taking navigation services out of the car so it can always be with you,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of the firm.

“Struggling with oversized paper maps will become a thing of the past.”

Nokia aiming to replace paper maps

Photo source.

stuff

Stephen Fry talks EeePC

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Seems I am not the only one enamoured with Asus’ tiny little linux based UMPC.Stephen Fry talks EeePC

The Asus EEE PC perched on my knee combines GNU software with a Linux kernel powered by an Intel Celeron Mobile Processor to produce a very extraordinary little laptop. It weighs less than a kilogram, starts up from cold in about 12 seconds and shuts down in five. It has no internal hard disk and no CD drive. It offers 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a seven-inch display; wireless, dial-out modem and ethernet adaptors are available for networking and internet connections, three USB ports, mini-jack sockets for headphones and microphone, a VGA out, an SD card slot and a built-in webcam. All for about £200 – less than the price of a show, dinner and taxi for two in London’s West End.

So is Stephen Fry.

stuff

Asus Eee PC arrives

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I have been wondering how good the Asus Eee PC is. The small linux UMPC is certainly creating waves in the tech world as well as the MoLeNET community.

Asus Eee PC arrives

Lilian (one of the MoLeNET mentors) demonstrated one at the MoLeNET Online Conference last Friday and I was quite intrigued.

So you can imagine my surprise when the one I had ordered arrived today.

It was interesting to see how this small UMPC was going to work out.

It booted up fine and after a minimal setup process was ready to work. Already loaded with internet, office, media and other applications it is ready to go.

I tried a few things such as running a PowerPoint presentation and playing a video file.

It handled the few things I tried with ease.

I still need to try the internet applications, so it will be interesting to see how the Eee PC can be used to access our college VLE and other online services.

web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?

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Today I got asked, what is Web 2.0, well there are various definitions available on the web.

From Wikipedia

In studying and/or promoting web-technology, the phrase Web 2.0 can refer to a trend in web design and development — a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services (such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies) which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.

From O’Reilly

Like many important concepts, Web 2.0 doesn’t have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core. You can visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core.

and

If Netscape was the standard bearer for Web 1.0, Google is most certainly the standard bearer for Web 2.0.

It can even be a picture.

What is Web 2.0?

However I think this video really sums it up.

psp

PSP Featureless

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Have been installing and trying out some new features for the PSP. The new 3.90 firmware includes support for Skype, which installs and works, but I have no audio input, so no phone calls for me.

PSP Featureless

Also installed the internet radio, but can’t seem to pick any up, back to the normal radio then.

Finally there is a new service called GoMessenger, however though 3.90 supports it, the software isn’t available for download yet, should allow for instant messaging when it is available.

Overall a bit of a disappointment really.

stuff

New Mobile Browser

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There’s a new browser for mobile devices providing a desktop experience on your windows mobile smartphone or PDA. Symbian and other platform editions are on their way.New Mobile Browser

The makers claim that it is the first mobile browser fully compatible with technologies such as asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX), Java, and embedded Flash.

Currently it’s a free download for US users only. Update now active in the UK too.

More info at:
http://www.skyfire.com/

From Handheld Learning