Learning Aloud

I am very frustrated with Apple today. I recently installed a recommended security fix on my server (the server providing this blog) and lost FTP access. The connection between the FTP problem and the security fix was not immediately apparent and I spent several hours attempting to determine what I could have done or what random corruption had occured. When everything I tried failed, I connected to Apple and searched the discussion lists to see what I could learn. This is when I learned of the connection between the security fix and the FTP problem.

Here is what makes the situation frustrating. I had no role in creating this problem – I took the action recommended by Apple (there is some information about what the fix fixes, but I would guess a very low % of Mac users would know that any of these descriptions would signal a potential problem). I called Apple Education Support and at this point I cannot receive help because I do not have a service contract. In the words of the younger generation – this sucks. Why should I be required to purchase a service contract against problems created by Apple? If the stemmed from third party software I decided to install, a poor decision on my part, etc., perhaps I could understand this position.

The California Open Source Textbook Project is an iniative focused on controlling the cost of textbooks. One idea intends to create a world history resource as a “wiki” and then convert some version of this resource into a printed version.

A wiki is essentially a collaborative authoring project with the assumption that individuals will contribute to expand or correct an existing work based on individual knowledge. This is a very interesting idea and one which has worked in the construction of open-source software. I have searching for a mature wiki in an area I think I know well in order to evaluate what I think of the potential of this approach without much luck. There appear to be some good examples in the “hard sciences” and computer science, but these are not areas I can really evaluate.

Stephen Downs provides a lengthy description of educational blogs. This article is a combination of technical details and project descriptions. The reference section also provides links to many additional articles.

The University of Iowa’s Virtual Hospital offers great images and short videos of human anatomy as educational resources. I happen to be going through brain anatomy in Intro Psychology and found the brain anatomy resources of great value.

THE Journal provides an article offers a five-step plan for monitoring and responding to technology abuse in your school. The topics range from cell phone courtesy to digital bullying. The links in the reference section are also useful.

The PEW Internet and American Life Foundation has just concluded a summary of how adults use IM (instant messaging). See the Washington Post for an analysis.

OK, I was wrong. The new Apple product was a 2 inch wide desk top computer. Some are complaining the cost is too high – approximately $1200. As a Mac user, this position annoys me. This is a high end machine. If you want something less expensive, the Apple eMac is about $800. Also consider the capabilities of the built-in hardware and software supporting multimedia (iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, etc.). Purchasing an iMac would be overkill if you only want to word process and search the Internet. Maybe you have other types of projects in mind. I would agree that Macs do offer less flexibility in hardware configuration than systems based on other operating systems. We all make a personal decision as to how important this issue is. In my opionion, you either get what you pay for or you add stuff later ’cause what you paid for does not do what you had hoped.