Gravity Lamp for the Greener Good

A lamp lit by gravity? Patent pending...

Virginia Tech student Clay Moulton has created a lamp that produces the equivalent of a 40-watt bulb over a period of 4 hours, making use of LED lighting and gravity.

Using similar ideas found in the old-school grandfather clock, a user slides a weight approximately every 4 hours to produce a soft glow. Estimated to function for 200 years, this may be the next wave of green products.

Past innovations have been all about convenience, all about making things as easy as possible on the user (think about the innovation of the remote control). This is a step in the other direction, a manual-intervention device that is aimed at the 'greener good'.

The light, pictured at left, stands about 4' tall, and glows through the entire column, by diffusing 10 high-output LED lights.

This design was just awarded 2nd place at the Greener Gadget Conference.

Read Virginia Tech's press-release here.

$100 Laptop now $187, $50 by 2011?

Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project, presented a Keynote at the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences earlier this week. Some items in his presentation:

• OLPC laptops are currently being produced for $187
• Thousands have been delivered
• Over 500,000 more are in the pipeline
• Production is now at 110,000 units per month
• Price will fall to $100 by the end of 2009
• Price will fall to $50 by 2011

Read a review of his address from Wired.

NCTCA Presentation

The presentation for the North Central Teachers Convention Association, presented February 8th in Edmonton, Alberta, can be viewed here.

Feel free to pass along any questions.

Further Convergence of Technology

The next step in convergence comes from Garmin, one of the leaders in GPS technology, as they launch their new Nuvifone. The Garmin Nuvifone also features a 3.5-inch touch screen, a Web browser, and e-mail capabilities. It's multimedia-friendly with MP3/ACC/MPEG4 support and a built-in camera/camcorder.

Read Garmin's press release here.

Large touchscreens are the latest wave, started by the wildly-hyped iPhone's innovative design. Comparisons to the iPhone are inevitable, but first looks suggests it has all the functionality of the iPhone with the addition of GPS technology and a better camera. It is expected to be slightly more expensive then the iPhone, but hopefully not limited to one network, as the iPhone is.

This type of convergence is a step discussed before, where instead of faster and stronger, technology will be smaller and combined.

This does leave a question that is sure to be raised about personal privacy. Having a GPS in the cell phone will leave many to wonder who is monitoring the whereabouts. Certainly parents of teenagers will be looking for technology like this to monitor their children, for better or worse, but many may question the possible invasion of privacy.

I, for one, is anxious for one less thing to carry around!

Some See Opportunity - Some See Segregation

In a move that is sure to polarize many, Toronto School Board District Trustees voted 11-9 to approve a "black-focussed" school on January 30, 2008, as reported by the Globe and Mail. Click here to see the story.

This is an amazingly delicate decision. In a country that is familiar, if not comfortable, with gender-restricted schools, this opens a new focus of debate. Bringing memories of segregation in the United States, some view this move as a step backwards towards racism and segregation. Others see it as an opportunity-driven decision. Still others make comparisons to the Affirmative Action laws in the United States, for better or worse.

You can read more about the board's decision directly from their website.

Living in a country that doesn't have the racial history as our neighbours, I am not naive enough to think that racial tensions are non-existent. I can't help but think that this will only amplify those tensions in too many ways.

The following day, Ontario Premiere D. McGuinty came out opposing the decision, and the public fray that seems inevitable to me is heightened one more step.

There is no doubt that I acknowledge there must be something done about the 40% drop out rate of Toronto's black teens, but I'm not convinced this is the right way to go. I hope I'm proven wrong. I also hope this is not the only measure that is undertaken to attack this problem.

Education is a fundamental in our society. Education is meant to be inclusive, and I'm left to ponder how further discrimination of entry to a publicly-funded school can be inclusive. How can public money to a public educational system be used in a closed-entry system? Yes, I do realize there are other educational systems, some in my own province of Alberta, that are discriminatory. I'm not dismissing this as better or worse, but as adding to the issue that should be fixed, not accepted.

Then again, this is thinking out side the box. Kudos to the board for having the courage/guts to try something different, something risky, but I have absolutely no doubt that this was done with the best intentions for the students at heart. When I see judgments like this, posted in Jan 31st Edmonton Journal, it's easy to see what the first reactions may be. I will admit this was my first reaction as well, though maybe not quite to that extent. However, the big difference I see between Mr. Mayes cartoon (left) and the board's decision in the malice. I'm not saying that bad things can't come from good intentions, but maybe we need to think a little about this before jumping to judgment on their decision. After all, they have a difficult task - a big job in trying to rectify the drop-out rates.

I would have enjoyed being in the Trustee's council room last night to listen to what must have been a fascinating discussion. If nothing else, it would have given me some insight into how they came to the decision they did, because for me, from the outside, I have ample concerns.

I have no doubt this will continue to make news in the weeks to come, leading up to the proposed September 2009 opening. Time will tell the impact of this decision.

One Science Teacher Spreads the Word

I found this video by Chris Lehmann on Will Richardson's site Weblogg-ed. While the message Chris presents is certainly timely and important, I'm looking at this as a teacher teaching. Watch the video once for content, and once looking at the following things:

• Is the production of professional quality?
• Is there teaching going on? Is it effective?
• What resources/costs are involved in this video?
• What was involved in planning this?

In my opinion, this is a very attainable standard for many teachers out there. While the idea that video tutorials/lessons are well accepted as effective, many teachers feel they do not have the resources or studio that's required to create effective videos. Too much TV or movie time? Maybe... but more likely, our idea of what is required is mixed up in 'show' instead of content.

Mr. Lehmann's video shows the teacher's voice. We get a good sense of who he is as a teacher, and maybe that is part of what makes this lesson effective. The key, in my opinion, is in the planning. Obviously, there was substantial planning doing before the camera turned on, but as for the production, this is easily attainable with a webcam and one person, with some simple editing software, the same kind that comes with most webcams. There are no grandiose special effects, no professional graphics, just one guy, an idea, and a whiteboard (OK, some fun fire and brimstone toys too, but not really required).

This is an excellent example of what a passionate teacher can create with some practice, effective planning, and opportunity and motivation to TRY something.

Enjoy...

The 'Q' Shows where Tech is Headed

This story from C-Net's CRAVE shows the direction things are going with high-tech. As technology hits the wall of processing power (as compared to need, not potential), the next logical step seems to be consolidation. The Q, though expensive, is the compilation of computer and TV in fantastic packaging. The logical addition of a touch screen makes this also the next generation of SMART Boards.

Have a look, but try not to drool.

Lumemlab's Q

bFree for Blackboard

I know that Blackboard is a popular LMS in many organizations. Although our school doesn't use this, I post this link because I know others out there may, and this would be a very valuable tool for those who do.

Mr. Corbett again comes up with the cool stuff.

"Here is a very interesting and useful tool if you are working with Blackboard version 6.3 and higher. This tool is freely available from the UNC website. Essentially, this tool will allow you or your students to view and extract any content for a Blackboard Archive or Export zip file."

You can read the full post here.

EduCon is Coming

Although I'm not attending this conference, I do plan on keeping an eye on EduCon, a new conference, this year in Philadelphia, that is promoting itself as a 'conference and a conversation."

Instead of a tech conference, of which there are many, or an Educational Tech Conference, this conference is promising to be about the changes in education, a look at "School 2.0", which is in itself an interesting idea.

One of the ideas I've been promoting in the last couple of years is that the education system we are currently running is essentially the same since the industrial revolution. The internet, new technology, and new ideas of thinking about education should have had a larger impact on the education system, but so far, has not as much as it should. Yes, there have been changes, but we are still following much the same organization as we have for decades.

Hopefully the ideas in the EduCon conference are a sign of things to come.

If anyone does attend this, I'd love to hear your opinions about the conference.

Google Earth Adds Google Sky

Many have had the fun of Google Earth, but the new addition to the program is Google Sky. The premise is the same... but instead of looking down, you get to look up.

This is a great, FREE tool that's available now. The BETA had a good report, and surely other improvements are coming.

Here is a clip about how it can work.