Nov 24
2011

On Monday we reported that the Pacific island-state of Nieu which had been the first country to have distributed XO laptops to everyone in its school system now also became the first country to stop a multi-year OLPC project.

Paraguayan student deep in thought
Let’s focus on learning

As a reaction to that announcement Michael Hutak (OLPC Association’s Regional Director for Oceania) posted a series of thoughtful entries on the OLPC Oceania blog which are all well worth a read:

I would strongly recommend reading all three posts in their entirety but here’s a quote from the second article that I really want to emphasize:

The good news is that the countries which are just beginning their engagement with OLPC are taking these lessons on board and are benefiting from the experience of our early pilots.

Everyone working within the context of one laptop per child – OLPC Foundation and OLPC Association, Sugar Labs, the several dozen deployments (both small and large), the many independent projects and local communities around them, international development agencies and similar entities, and independent researchers – should really figure out how to collaborate to learn what works. And maybe even more importantly: what doesn’t work.

After all the only thing that’s worse than reinventing the wheel is what Alan Kay once referred to as his worry that:

…so many people in both computing and education are “reinventing the flat tire“. (emphasis added)

To end this on a personal note: I simply cannot imagine a future where ICT is any less relevant to society in general and children’s education in particular than it already is today. As such we will have to – and we will – find meaningful ways of how to integrate technologies with education and learning. However I’m increasingly convinced that what we really need to move ahead here is something like OLPC version 2.0, not an XO-3.


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One Laptop Per Child News

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Nov 23
2011

<p>HP has always given the best product to the market. Now the question is will HP x2301 succeed in maintaining its buyer’s expectation or not? </p>

<p>It’s a 23 inch monitor weighing 7 pound that has diagonal measurement of 23 inch and is tiltable up to -5 to +15 degrees. It has VGA, HDMI and DVI ports so that you can attach inputs that can be auto-switched or depends on user selection. If you are having one active input at a time then auto switch works fine but one cannot guarantee for two active inputs with the auto-switch option. </p>

<p>Power button is available at front panel of the monitor. You can disable backlight but the LED is always on. Appearance-wise monitor looks cool as its thickness is just half of the thickness of deck of cards. It has very nice grayish black color finish. Base of HP monitor is quite small that is why monitor looks too heavy on it. </p>

<p>The best thing about this monitor is that it is the fastest refreshing monitor. If you check out you will find that this HP monitor reduces blur and slow switching of the frames. Backlight of the monitor is very bright with good contrast level that provides soothing feeling to your eyes. Not all LCD monitors can display true black color but this HP x2301 LED monitor is an exceptional one. It shows up very dark charcoal type color that is approximately close to natural black color. </p>

<p>Controls of HP x2301 are pretty awesome. Adjusting brightness, color temperature, contrast, enabling or disabling light sensor, horizontal and vertical position are just one press apart. By pressing remote button, you can almost change all the functions on this monitor in no time. You can adjust the position of on-screen menu, set individual RGB levels and much more. You can even set sleep mode control so that it turn off automatically at particular time set by the viewer. You can create a custom profile using colorimeter. HP x2301 has an auto sensor that adjusts screen brightness according to room brightness. Image on the screen can be viewed from 180 degrees. Its driver software works well under Windows 7 operating system. </p>

<p>Apart from good points, let’s focus on some of its not so good points. Screen of HP x2301 Micro Thin Monitor is just okay as reflections at the front of the screen is quite annoying. You can search out monitors in the market that comes with anti-reflective coatings. You will find so many controls in this monitor that cannot be understood by any typical buyer. Even its manual is quite complex to understand. Last option left with you is to Google out information in order to understand and implement all the controls of HP x2301 monitor. </p>

<p>Overall it is a nice monitor for video application and that too because of its fast refreshing rate. Photographer will definitely find it difficult to work with this monitor due to its limitation on producing true color images. Anti-reflective coating should be there to make HP x2301 Micro Thin LED Monitor little better. </p>

High Display

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Nov 22
2011

Here are some items you might buy on Ebay auctions:
 

US Auctions
Australian Auctions
Austrian Auctions
Belgian Auctions
Canadian Auctions
French Auctions
German Auctions
Indian Auctions
Irish Auctions
Italian Auctions
Dutch Auctions
Polish Auctions
Spanish Auctions
Swiss Auctions
UK Auctions

Best Match
Time: ending soonest
[...]
30Monitor.com

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Nov 22
2011

If there was ever a time to commit to a long-term (2-year) relationship, it’s now. As part of their Black Friday and holiday sale, Amazon Wireless’s ‘penny-pincher sale’ is offering up all phones from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T for just .01 when paired with a new two-year contract. The deals are available from midnight November 21, 2011 through 11:59 p.m. PDT November 28, 2011. These aren’t outdated devices either. Check out the top options below, many of which were included in our updated top smartphones list.

Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G (Sprint)

Samsung’s latest superphone boasts an ultra-slim design, a gorgeous screen, dual-core performance, and super-fast 4G speeds. Although Sprint’s 4G isn’t the best in the business, this phone still claimed 4 stars and received our Editor’s Choice ranking. Read our review of the Epic Touch 4G.

Motorola Droid RAZR 4G  (Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid RAZR is the slimmest smartphone yet, and it offers a gorgeous Super AMOLED screen along with screaming 4G speeds. Read our four-star and Editor’s Choice review of the Droid RAZR 4G.

Motorola Atrix 2 4G (AT&T)

The Motorola Atrix 2 delivers a bigger and brighter display than the Atrix 4G and a sharper 8-megapixel camera in a solid design. Read our four-star, Editor’s Choice review of the Motorola Atrix 2.

HTC EVO 3D 4G (Sprint)

The glasses-free 3D screen is nifty, but it’s the EVO 3D’s dual-core performance, smart Sense software, and impressive 4G speeds that make it a winner. Read our four-star, Editor’s Choice review of the Evo 3D. 

Motorola Photon 4G (Sprint)

With a solid QWERTY keyboard and the fastest camera we’ve ever seen on a phone, the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G is one formidable Android slider. Read our four-star, Editor’s Choice review of the Photon 4G here.

Samsung Focus Flash 4G Windows Phone (AT&T)

The Samsung Focus Flash is a compact Windows Phone with a great display and a very affordable price. It crams an AMOLED display and a fast 1.4-GHz processor inside a light and compact design. Read our four-star review of the Flash.

LG Thrill 4G (AT&T)

Featuring a glasses-free 3D display and fast dual-core performance, the LG Thrill 4G is a steal. Its quick performance, good sound, and fun 3D experience all come at a great price. Read our four-star review of the Thrill 4G.

LAPTOP Magazine: The Pulse of Mobile Technology

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Nov 21
2011

Every employer wishes to possess some sort of information about their workers and how these people spend their own time online. The computer monitoring software programs are one such great tool that can make the whole function of monitoring quite easy.

The best thing about this software might be the real-time reporting of every action that might happen because result of all of them. The software should however end up being hidden as well as placed from the access even in the system management teams too. Likewise there should be equal but regular monitoring particularly of the sign ups.

The employee checking can be made easy with the non threatening ways like software that can report every motion of worker during the day. Listed here are few things which should be seen by administration while selecting the right one. The first and foremost thing which one ought to keep in mind is that the software should be sufficiently disguised and put into such a way which employee should not expect something funny while providing the information.

It might seem unethical to place the program with out the data of the workers as they may be sharing the information without their own consent. This hiccup can be prevented by giving every employee a few over look at the presence of this kind of system once they start working for you. This way they may know that some one might be viewing them, even when they are not aware that software might be doing the dirty work for them.

Employee checking is now combined together with the no harmful methods such as software applications that may statement every motion of employee throughout the day. Listed here are handful of things which should be witnessed by management whilst choosing the correct a single. The foremost and main issue which should bear in mind is the software program should be completely hidden and set in such a implies that worker must not assume something amusing whilst offering the knowledge.

It may well seem illegal to location the software program not having the help of the staff simply because they may possibly be sharing the information without having their own consent. This particular hiccup can be avoided by providing each and every worker a few over view of the existence of such method after they start off doing work in your case. By doing this they might understand that numerous 1 might be observing all of them, even when they may be not aware which software may be performing the dirty operate for the kids.

Computer Monitor Software Reviews、Employee Activity Monitoring Software

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Nov 21
2011



An international sim card is always a good option for travelers considering that, they are able to get superior options that enable them to roam with their existing mobile phones. They are also a good choice for those who want to use an international cell phone rental service. Having a world phone service, commonly referred to as the global phone service, allows travelers to keep in touch with family and friends irrespective of where they are, or where they go. If time is taken to get a reputable company as a provider of the international sim cards, global phones and the wireless calling plans, you will be able to call at low rates without necessarily having the long contracts or even going to the extent of buying a new phone. The terms vary from state to state and from one provider to the other, hence it is advisable to conduct a research on all plans, making sure you check all the details.

More About The Sim Cards, What Are They?

A sim card is defined as a memory chip that is commonly used in some models of the cellular telephones. It is also presumed to be a mini hard disk that will automatically activate a phone into which it is inserted. It is literally the brain of any given cell phone. It is quite vital considering that, it holds the person’s identity information, cell phone number, the phone book entries, text messages and other important data. The convenience of the sim card lies in the fact that, should the battery of the phone that it is inserted in go off, one can just slide it to a friend’s phone and still make a call as if it were in their phone.

What Are International Sim Cards And How Do They Work?

This is a sim card where, one is able to make calls at lower rates when they are travelling, by getting reduced roaming rates. An international sim card works by assigning a local number and charged a local rate. In most countries, there are no charges for incoming calls or text messages, but it is advisable that to check the international call rates to be sure. One of the benefits of using an international sim card is being able to save a lot when calling overseas and when travelling abroad and around the world. Most of cards come with the offer of pay as you go, hence have no monthly bill and guaranteed affordable great call rates to any country.

How You Can Save Money With The World Phones And International Sim Cards

Instead of spending all your money on roaming charges, or high calling and roaming rates during travel, get heavily discounted international call rates with the world phones and international sim cards that are specifically crafted for the travelers. These help you keep the calling rates to manageable and affordable levels. In addition, bulk buying negotiates better deals and for common destinations, the rates end up being lower than the local service provider’s rates, or even a landline call.

Run Your Business Internationally

It is easy to run a business internationally with the use of global phones. The international SIM cards ensures that the calling rates are made user friendly making it possible for business people to keep in touch with clients, wherever they may be. One can also make deals using the global phones at any given time, making the global phones a welcomed product in the business sector.

Save on long distance roaming charges with an international SIM card from Brightroam. International SIM card drastically reduce the amount of roaming charges on your phone bill!

All About International Sim Cards And Global Phones
Laptop Day

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Nov 20
2011

Imagine that you walk into your living room, connect your smartphone to your home Wi-Fi network, and—before you can say “stream wirelessly!”—snapshots and music tracks from your handset’s library appear on your TV. This is not a dream. You can do this right now using gadgets that support DLNA, or Digital Living Network Alliance.

Through the DLNA initiative, product manufacturers and software companies allow Wi-Fi-capable devices to share music, photo, and video files across a wireless connection. Apple’s AirPlay technology is similar, but DLNA is found in many more gadgets—from Android phones and laptops to TVs and game consoles such as the PlayStation 3. So how well does DLNA work in the real world?

The Gear

To test the DLNA promise, we used two smartphones to stream music, photos, and video files to a 50-inch Samsung 50C7000 TV. The Samsung Epic 4G includes Samsung’s DLNA-enabled AllShare app for moving files over Wi-Fi. The Sprint HTC EVO 4G, our other test phone, has no native DLNA support, so we used a third-party app called Twonky Media Server to share files.

Update: DLNA recently added Wi-Fi Direct to its interoperability guidelines, giving enabled devices the ability to connect directly without a wireless router. Our tests were conducted using DLNA connections only.  

Setup

Any DLNA device you would like to use—televisions included—must be connected to your home network. Since our TV didn’t have a wireless radio, we needed to connect the TV to our router via an Ethernet cable. We connected the Samsung 50C7000 to our router with ease, but others who keep their TVs and routers in separate rooms will need to explore alternative options to connect their sets (such as Powerline adapters).

AllShare is Samsung’s proprietary DLNA-based service, and it comes pre-installed on many Samsung products. Using this service, we connected the TV and the Samsung Epic 4G smartphone in seconds. The same went for the HTC EVO 4G using the Twonky Media Server app.

First, the smartphone applications prompted us to select one of three options for streaming media:

  1. Streaming files from the smartphone to the another device.
  2. Streaming media from a Wi-Fi-attached storage drive to the smartphone.
  3. Streaming files from another device to the smartphone.

Once we selected the first option—to send music, photo, and video files from our smartphone to the television set—the app prompted us to select a receiving device: the Samsung TV. After that, getting MP3 files from our favorite Weezer album, captured video from a concert, and photos from a summer vacation to display on the set was a matter of navigating AllShare or Twonky’s file management system.

Performance

Sounds like smooth sailing, right? Not entirely. First, DLNA only works with single media files, such as video clips captured using your phone’s camera or downloaded media files. Though DLNA can stream protected and commercial content, many service providers don’t yet support the technology (it’s likely that support will first roll out for set-top boxes and Blu-ray disc players connected to television sets or notebooks). So you can’t display video streamed through other applications, such as YouTube, on your television set. For now, users can’t stream protected content—such as Netflix—either.

Also, the one-file-at-a-time limitation means MP3 playlists must be queued up manually, and the DLNA connection takes a few seconds to access and stream each file. That brings us to another point: Streaming files with DLNA is slow. The 10- to 15-second delays we experienced between launching video files or new music playlists were a bit too long. Our music and video files never paused mid-stream, but we had some difficulty streaming certain audio and video files. For example, some DLNA software does not support GIF, PNG, or TIFF image files. We had trouble with the audio codec in a 3GP video file saved on the Epic 4G.

Another peeve? The interfaces in both the AllShare and Twonky services need work. The Twonky app at least groups music into artist and album subfolders, but AllShare displays audio files in one endless cascade, making it difficult to sift through our more than 1,200 music tracks to create playlists.

Verdict

Does DLNA work? Yes. Does it work perfectly? No. Sure, the technology allows you to stream photos and home videos captured on your smartphone and music files to your home theater. But that’s not the same as streaming premium movies and television episodes, which you can do with Apple’s AirPlay. Inconsistent interface design from device to device and performance lag also make DLNA less appealing than it should be.

LAPTOP Magazine: The Pulse of Mobile Technology

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Nov 19
2011

Individuals who want to travel outside the US must have a current passport. If the person has never had one before, they are required to apply for a quick new USA passport in person. The application requirements differ among adults, teens and children. What follows is an outline of the process for an adult application.

Because you will need to apply in person for an initial adult travel document, find a passport acceptance facility that is near you. These facilities are often located inside post offices, libraries and county clerk’s offices. The Department of State will provide a list of the offices so that you can locate one nearest to you, even trying to use an expedited child pass port service.

There are specific documents that are needed as proof of your identity such as a driver license, state photo ID card, military certificate, or naturalization paperwork. An ID from another state will need to be accompanied by a social security card, credit card, library card or any other form of secondary ID. Be sure to make copies of your identification documents and take them with you to apply for your document.

All applicants also require proof of US citizenship. Proof can be a US birth certificate, naturalization certificate or citizenship papers. A current photograph is also needed for your passport. Although there are a number of establishments were these photos can be taken,most acceptance facilities have the capability of taking the photos. It is convenient to find a facility that does it all.

After gathering all the documents, take them with your pictures to the post office or other acceptance facility. To save time, you can locate the appropriate form online, print it and fill it out prior to your visit to the facility. Remember not to sign the application since it must be signed when an agent tells you to. The authorized agent acts as a witness to the signing of your application.

An authorized agent at the acceptance agency will look over your documentation and accept your payment of the document fee. Payment in the form of a check or money order will be accepted. Periodically these fees change so make sure that you have checked by phone or on the Internet for the correct amount.

The completed application with all your documentation and pictures will then be sent to the United States Department of Sate to be processed. By paying extra for expediting the processing, you can receive your passport in about three weeks. Normal delivery of your travel document will take no less than six weeks.

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Nov 19
2011

After the first two posts this week being focused on videos I thought that I might as well publish another great video before I head into the weekend.

Craig Perue from OLPC Jamaica showed us this one during his talk at the OLPC SF Community Summit 2011 in late October. It’s a recording of four grade 6 students at August Town Primary School who wrote a song about the XO and I absolutely loved it!

OLPC Jamaica volunteer Candace Brown kindly translated the lyrics for those of us in need of an English version:

….Dr McNaughton, I feel like my heart is going to burst
When I see the new laptop, my heart beams with pride
Lord, when I see the XO, all grade 4 is saying “a-oh”, they are the happiest children
If I could go back in time, grade 4 would have been in my life
I know they are going to use it.
Grade 4 literacy, look out, they are going to ace that and put August town back on the map
So we just want to say thanks to UWI especially Dr. McNaughton, they want us to learn and better ourselves
So UWI, Dr McNaughton thank you for helping us prepare for the future

Nosy Komba and its famous XO Dance better watch out because the competition for the best XO related singing and dancing performance is on!


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One Laptop Per Child News

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Nov 19
2011

FOSS Patents is reporting that Motorola has just enjoyed a small victory in the courts of Germany, where a judge ruled in a preliminary hearing that Motorola’s patent infringement claim against Apple over their iCloud technology will go to trial.

Motorola first filed the lawsuit back in April, which claimed that Apple’s iCloud infringes on patents under their ownership concerning email and data sync between the cloud and mobile devices.

The official ruling on an injunction won’t be out until February 2012, but so far, the courts seem to be leaning in Motorola’s favor. According to FOSS Patents, “The court doesn’t appear to buy any of Apple’s defenses at this stage. It may still change mind until the ruling, which is scheduled for February 3, 2012, 9 AM local time, but if it had had to rule today, I have no doubt that Apple would have lost.”

If Motorola does win this case, Apple may be forced to stop selling all of its products that utilize the iCloud service in Germany.

It is a requirement in German courts to ask the winning party to post a bond so that the infringer can get compensation for their loss if the ruling is later overturned in an appeal. In this case, Apple has priced their potential loss at 2 billion euro, or .7 billion. If Apple loses the appeal process, Motorola should get the money back, but the enormous sum could conceivably deter Motorola from proceeding with the injunction.

The German judge overseeing the case has asked Apple to justify this amount, seemingly rejecting it as much too high: “I am not yet entirely sure that amount adequately mirrors the commercial value of this dispute,” he said. “The technology isn’t a standard and there are alternative ways to provide the same services.”

via FOSS Patents

LAPTOP Magazine: The Pulse of Mobile Technology

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