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at the crossroads between people, technology, and culture

October 30, 2010
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Android: Fad or Future?

By Jeff Bertolucci, PCWorldJan 6, 2010 5:59 pm
It appears Android-equipped devices are enjoying a coming-out party at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Major hardware manufacturers, including Dell, HTC, MIPS Technologies, and Motorola, have announced plans to launch consumer products, including smartphones and TV set-top boxes, which feature the Android mobile operating system.

The wave of announcements appears to validate earlier predictions that the open-source Linux-based Android would become a major player in the mobile market, although market acceptance of the Google-backed OS may have taken longer than first expected.

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October 30, 2010
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Storytelling in the Modern World

Anthropology studies have often contrasted the difference between oral and literate cultures, namely with education and learning practices. The construct of “study,” “school,” “homework,” and “taking notes,” are all norms defined by the advent of writing. This panel discussion addresses storytelling, one of the foundations of oral cultures, in the context of a business setting.

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October 10, 2009
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How Technology Affects Your Food

Written by Dr. Maoshing Ni
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When it comes to food, there is no shortage of questions about how to get the most nutrients out of the food we eat. In this modern world, even more questions arise as we contemplate the effect of brand new technology on the quality of our food. Read on to find out how processing and technology is affecting what you eat.

Excerpted from full article:
1. Microwave: Destroys nutrients
Vegetables, when microwaved, lost 80-97 percent of nutrients.

2. Freezing food may preserve nutrients
Freezing when fruit is fresh can be helpful and usually retains the nutrients. However, when food is stored and sits for a long period of time, it starts to lose nutritional values of the vitamins, especially the B and C Vitamins.

3. Dried Fruit vs. fresh fruit
In general, when you dry a food, you are taking the water content out and dehydrating it. You don’t necessarily destroy the nutrients, although in fruits, certain vitamins can be easily destroyed. Vitamin C, for instance, is fragile, so it may be destroyed in the process. That is why fruits are generally better fresh.

4. Organic for nutrients and safety
Many scientific studies have shown that organic foods have a much higher percentage of antioxidants. And studies regularly emerge about the negative effects of pesticides and herbicides used on commercial crops: cancer risk, inflammation, and reproductive imbalance in humans and animals.

The primary reason for buying organic is that you get wholesome, nutrient-rich foods that aren’t covered in dangerous chemicals. Even the foods that are grown below ground or have peels are not always safe from pesticides.

If you have to make a choice between the two, make an informed decision.

• These fruits and vegetables tested the worst for chemicals, so buy organic: apples, bell peppers, carrots, celery, cherries, grapes (imported), kale, lettuce, nectarines, peaches, pears, and strawberries.

• When tested, these have the least amount of chemicals: avocados, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples, sweet corn, sweet peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and watermelon.

October 7, 2009
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Apple Announces Flash Support for iPhones, Blackberries, etc.

Adobe announced at its AdobeMax conference on Monday, October 5 that it will add support to its Flash Professional CS5 developer kit to convert software written in Flash to standalone iPhone apps.
Earlier in the day they announced that Flash 10.1 would be available on just about every single mobile hardware platform out there. Blackberries, Android phones, Symbian Phones, Palm Pres and Windows Mobile.

Announcement
WIRED Announcement
ComputerWorld Article

Example Flash apps that made it through the iPhone conversion process (8 so far)

Flash apps WIRED would like to see on the iPhone

October 3, 2009
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World Map of Top Social Networks

This site shows the highest ranking social network site per country based on site usage.

This includes: Bebo, Cloob, CyWorld, Draugiem, Facebook, Faces.md, Friendster, Hi-5, Hyves, IRC Galleria, Iwiw, Lide, Mixi, MySpace, Nasza-Kiasa, Netlog, One it, Orkut, Perfspot, Skyrock, StudioVZ, Tuenti, V Kontakte, Wretch, Xiaonei

October 3, 2009
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Reducing the Technology Gap

See full article at UNCTAD

There is a wide gap between those who have access to technology and use it effectively and those who do not. The technology gap exists between those who can create and innovate to produce new technologies and those who cannot. It also exists between those who can access, adapt, master and use existing technologies and those who cannot. So harnessing the potential of technology for development goes beyond creating new technologies but also finding ways to access, adapt and use technology that already exists for the benefit of all the population.

The technology gap is evident in many areas:

  • In Japan there are 861 patents granted per million people. In many developing countries the number is 0.
  • 84% of articles published in scientific journals are from developed countries.
  • In 2002, only 10 countries accounted for 86% of world total investment in Research and Development (R&D)
  • The mean years of schooling in the United States is 12.1 years. In Guinea Bissau, it is less than one year.
  • In Finland, 27.3% of university enrollments are in science subjects. In Chad, this figure is 0.1%.

October 3, 2009
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Reggio Emilia Approach to Education

From Brainy-Child.com

Hailed as the best pre-schools in the world by Newsweek magazine in 1991, the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education has attracted the worldwide attention of educators, researchers and just about anyone interested in early childhood education best practices. Even the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)’s revised version of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) guidelines also included examples from Reggio approach. Today, Reggio approach has been adopted in USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia and many other countries.

Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) founded the ‘Reggio Emilia’ approach at a city in northern Italy called Reggio Emilia. The ‘Reggio’ approach was developed for municipal child-care and education programs serving children below six. The approach requires children to be seen as competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative, inventive and possess a desire to interact and communicate with others.

The ‘Reggio’ vision of the child as a competent learner has produced a strong child-directed curriculum model. The curriculum has purposive progression but not scope and sequence. Teachers follow the children’s interests and do not provide focused instruction in reading and writing. Reggio approach has a strong belief that children learn through interaction with others, including parents, staff and peers in a friendly learning environment.

Here are some key features of Reggio Emilia’s early childhood program:

  • Role of the environment-as-teacher
  • Children’s multiple symbolic languages
  • Documentation as assessment and advocacy
  • Long-term projects
  • The teacher as researcher
  • Home-school relationships

October 3, 2009
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iPhone Can Unlock Zipcars and Let You Be on Your Way!

Read full article here.

Cambridge, Mass.-based car-sharing service Zipcar this week launched an app that lets you locate and reserve one of its vehicles, unlock it using the iPhone’s touch-screen and drive it off the lot.

“The iPhone is a pipeline for almost one-third of our members,” says Luke Schneider, Zipcar’s chief technology officer. “This is something they have been asking for.”

While there are many iPhone apps for autos, most are focused on directions, traffic, roadside assistance and games. Zipcar’s app is the first to control the operation of a car, which is why David Cole, chairman of the Ann Arbor, Mich.- based Center for Auto Research, calls it a “breakthrough.”

“Once you have this kind of electronic ability in a cellphone, there’s no end to the type of technology you could bring to cars,” he says. Read more.