This massive solar-powered computer can provide water for an entire village — from digitaltrends.com by Maria Mora
Excerpt:
The Center for Disease Control estimates that 9.1 percent of global disease could potentially be prevented by cleaner water and improved sanitation. One European-based company is aiming to provide fresh, drinkable water; Internet connectivity; and free electricity to a community in need.
Watly is world’s first, and largest, solar-powered computer that uses thermal technology to provide clean water, electricity, and Internet connectivity to about 750 people. Measuring in at about 131 feet (40 meters) long, this machine can sanitize up to 1,320 gallons (5,000 liters) of water a day, while generating electricity that can be used to charge external devices. Watly is also built with a 3G/4G router that gives people access to the Internet.
Also see:
Microscope Uses Artificial Intelligence to Find Cancer Cells — from futurism.com
A new microscope developed by researchers from UCLA uses AI to detect cancer cells in blood samples.
Excerpt:
Artificial intelligence is one of the greatest goals of the 21st century. Major developments in AI do astound, machines learning how to turn words into images and how to beat world class players in Go.
Who would have known AI can also spot cancer?
A new microscope, developed by researchers from UCLA, uses AI in helping detect and spot blood samples with cancer cells. Faster and more accurate than its contemporary techniques, it can analyze 36 million images every second without damaging the blood samples.
Women in Computer Science: Getting involved in STEM — from computerscience.org; with thanks to Emily French for the resource
Excerpt:
Even with projected growth of 15-20% between 2012 and 2022, the vast majority of computer science jobs will be pursued and filled by men. As STEM-related industries on a whole add over 1.7 million jobs in the coming years, there continues to be a notable absence of women in the field. This trend begins well before entering the job market: girls account for more than half of all Advanced Placement (AP) test-takers, yet boys outnumber girls 4:1 in computer science exams. In Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming, not a single girl took the AP Computer Science examination in 2014.
There is a clear disconnect between the computer science industry and the message girls receive about their ability to succeed in tech organizations. This guide examines the history behind this disparity and how educators, parents, employers and computer scientists can reverse the trend.
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Due to the marketing strategies of the last three decades, many women have developed misconceptions about computer science. While the notion of the geek coder is alive and well, many young women may be unaware of the myriad jobs available and the opportunity to make a palpable difference.
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As Smithsonian Magazine reports, a survey conducted by AAUW of 15,000 recent graduates found that, one year after graduation, male and female programmers were earning the same salary.
Microsoft Build: the 10 most important announcements — from theverge.com by Ben Popper and Dieter Bohn
Here come the bots!
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Every year, Microsoft holds a developer event called “Build.” And recently, those events have gone from snoozers to exciting showcases. Microsoft has a winner with Windows 10 (as long as you ignore the phones), a robust personal assistant in Cortana (that works just fine on a laptop), and a wild holographic future to plan with HoloLens. It’s a lot to take in, and at this year’s Build Microsoft we got updates on all of it. And a few surprises.
Going in, we weren’t totally sure what would be coming next for Windows 10, but it turns out there’s a lot that Microsoft has planned. It’s not just that there are new apps, there are also new bots, which will help people handle all sorts of small tasks. In fact, those bots and Microsoft’s vision of how they should work stole the entire show. Windows, Xbox: you’re cool, but the future is bots.
Why Microsoft wants to help developers build bots — from pcworld.com by Blair Hanley Frank
Conversations are cross-platform and mobile, even when Windows 10 Mobile isn’t winning
Excerpt:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is pushing developers to create virtual assistants and intelligent chatbots to help users do everything from managing their calendars to booking hotel reservations.
To that end, Microsoft has published a new Bot Framework, which makes it easier to build chatbots using either C# or Node.js. Working with the tools isn’t so easy that anyone could do it, but they can help reduce some of the difficulties of conversing with a computer.
It was one of the main announcements from Nadella’s keynote address at Microsoft’s Build developer conference Wednesday.
Also see:
From DSC:
Questions/relevance for those working higher ed:
Now anyone can use Google’s deep learning techniques — from futurism.com by Sarah Marquart
In Brief:
Google announced a new machine learning platform for developers. The company is also open-sourcing tools such as Tensorflow to allow the community to take its internal tools, adapt them for their own uses, and improve them.
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Google has announced a new machine learning platform for developers at its NEXT Google Cloud Platform user conference. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, explained that Google believes machine learning is “what’s next.”
Using artificial intelligence in the classroom — from educationdive.com by Erin McIntyre
Dive Brief:
Excerpts:
ALGORITHM
A defined list of steps for solving a problem. A computer program can be viewed as an elaborate algorithm. In AI, an algorithm is usually a small procedure that solves a recurrent problem.
MACHINE LEARNING
Computer systems that learn from data, enabling them to make increasingly better predictions.
DECISION THEORY
The mathematical study of strategies for optimal decision-making between options involving different risks or expectations of gain or loss depending on the outcome.
It can be difficult to define artificial intelligence (AI), even for experts. One reason is that what AI includes is constantly shifting. As Nick Bostrom, a leading AI expert from Oxford University, explains: “[a] lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being called AI because once something becomes useful enough and common enough it is not labeled AI anymore.” Instead, it is considered a computer program, or an algorithm, or an app, but not AI.
Another reason for the difficulty in defining AI is the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Anthropologists, biologists, computer scientists, linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists all contribute to the field of AI, and each group brings their own perspective and terminology.
For our purposes, we define AI as computer systems that have been designed to interact with the world through capabilities (for example, visual perception and speech recognition) and intelligent behaviours (for example, assessing the available information and then taking the most sensible action to achieve a stated goal) that we would think of as essentially human.
IBM’s Rometty wants you to know they’re a ‘cognitive solutions cloud platform company’ — from barrons.com by Tiernan Ray
Excerpt:
Rometty says she is the first IBM chief to ever offer a keynote at the show [CES]. Her framework for everything this evening is that the “future is cognitive,” and we’re headed to a “cognitive IoT.”
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What happens when everyone becomes digital, she asks. What will differentiate people is understanding all that data. That is the “cognitive era.” “Cognitive is an era of business and an era of technology,” she says. 80% of data out here is “black, invisible,” and “that’s what’s changing,” she says.
Rometty clarifies cognitive is not synonymous with A.I. It is not about systems you program. It is about systems that learn.
…
Her point is that all that “vast IoT data is going to do nothing for you unless you can bring cognitive to it.”
Her big point: “IBM is no longer a hardware, software company,” but a “cognitive solutions cloud platform company.”
SoftBank’s Pepper robot to get even brainier with IBM’s Watson technology — from thenextweb.com by Natt Garun
Excerpt:
When it launched last year, SoftBank’s emotion-reading robot Pepper sold out in just one minute despite its limited utility. Now, Pepper’s about to get smarter thanks to a partnership with IBM to integrate Watson cognitive system into its brains.
With Watson, developers hope to help Pepper understand human emotions more thoroughly to appropriately respond and engage with its users. IBM and SoftBank say the collaboration will also allow Pepper to gather new information from social media to learn how people interact with brands so it knows how to personally reach out to people.
Big Data in 2016: Cloudy, with a chance of disappointment, disillusionment, and disruption — from insidebigdata.com by Daniel Gutierrez
Excerpt:
Expect to see many organizations become deeply disillusioned by Big Data in 2016 because they had hoped to get different results from their business, without using Big Data to actually change how they operated. Those who used Big Data to make substantive changes to how they operate will dramatically out-compete those who used Big Data to produce merely-more-detailed reports, but little actual change.
Young entrepreneurs are applying the power of big data to the real world — from entrepreneur.com by John Pilmer
Excerpt:
Two 15-year-old students from Business Technology Early College High School (BTECH) in Queens, New York dazzled me with big-picture thinking about the social implications of harnessing big data while protecting our future. The teens shared very entrepreneurial thoughts of how to deliver genomic big data solutions without diminishing individual self-worth.
One young man used the example of applying genomic big data to people to create a “Superman” in the future. Yet, he noted that if everyone were Superman, no one would be. In other words, no one would be unique, stand out from the crowd. Wow! That’s big picture thinking that reminds me of a science fiction novel.
The data science industry: a look at the key roles — from dataconomy.com by Darya Niknamian
Here is the infographic from that article:
The art of data science: The skills you need and how to get them — from kdnuggets.com by Joseph Blue
Learn, how to turn the deluge of data into the gold by algorithms, feature engineering, reasoning out business value and ultimately building a data driven organization.
The 22 skills of a Data Scientist… — from dataconomy.com by Matt Reaney
From DSC:
The items above made me think of trying to excerpt meaning from big data…which made me think of programming…which lead me to think of algorithms…which lead me to think of artificial intelligence (AI). Then, when I was thinking about AI, I wondered…
Hmmm….could be helpful…though knowledgeable experts/humans will likely still be needed. But such technologies could help with some of the heavy (and often time-consuming) lifting here.
Everything Siri can do for you and your Apple TV — from imore.com by Lory Gill
Excerpt:
When you ask Siri what it can search for, it will respond, “I can search by title, people (actor, director, character name, guest star, producer, or writer), ratings (like PG or TV-G), reviews (such as best or worst), dates (like 2012 or the 80s), age (like kid-friendly or teen), seasons, episodes, and studio. And of course, I can search by genre.”
But, what else can Siri do?
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Siri has a fairly robust search feature with multi-layer filtering.
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While you are watching a movie or TV show, or listening to music, you can get a little extra help from Siri. It’s like having a buddy sitting next to you — but they don’t shush you when you ask a question.
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You can search for content in the Music app on Apple TV by artist, album, or song title. With a little know-how, you can also turn Siri into your personal deejay.
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While you may normally look to your smartphone for your weather predictions, Siri can be just as helpful about the conditions around the world as your local weatherman or app. All you have to do is ask.
From DSC:
Following this trajectory out a bit into the future — and in light of significant developments that continue to occur with artificial intelligence, the development and use of algorithms, the potential use of web-based learner profiles (think LinkedIn.com/Lynda.com, MOOCs, the use of nanodegrees), second screen-based apps, and the like — one has to wonder:
“What are the ramifications of this for learning-related applications?!”
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
Introducing first ever experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition — from blogs.windows.com by Kudo Tsunoda
Excerpt:
I am super excited about today’s announcement that the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition is available for pre-order. We set out on a mission to deliver the world’s first untethered holographic computer and it is amazing to finally be at this point in time where developers will be receiving the very first versions so they can start building their own holographic experiences.
…
With HoloLens, we are committed to providing the development community with the best experience possible. In order to help get developers started creating experiences for HoloLens, we’ve provided a number of great resources. First of all, there is a complete set of documentation provided to developers both by the people who have created the platform and by the people who have been building holographic experiences. We want to share all of our holographic knowledge with developers so they can start bringing their holographic dreams to reality as easily as possible. We have also provided a host of tutorial videos to help people along. All of the documentation and videos can be found at dev.windows.com/holographic.
From DSC:
Don’t rule out tvOS for some powerful learning experiences / new affordances. The convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer continues…and is now coming into your home. Trainers, faculty members, teachers, developers, and others will want to keep an eye on this space. The opportunities are enormous, especially as second screen-based apps and new forms of human computer interfaces (HCI) unfold.
The following items come to my mind:
Online-based communities of practice. Virtual reality, virtual tutoring. Intelligent systems. Artificial intelligence. Global learning. 24×7, lifelong learning. Career development. Flipping the classroom. Homeschooling. Learning hubs. Online learning. Virtual schools. Webinars on steroids.
With the reach of these powerful technologies (that continue to develop), I would recommend trying to stay informed on what’s happening in the world of tvOS-based apps in the future. Towards that end, below are some items that might help.
Apple releases Apple TV Tech Talks video series for building better tvOS apps — by AppleInsider Staff
Excerpt:
Apple on Wednesday released to developers a series of videos focusing on Apple TV and its tvOS operating system, offering a detailed look at the underlying SDK, resources and best practices associated with coding for the platform.
Also see:
Addendum on 2/26/16:
Google Cloud Vision API enters Beta, open to all to try!
Excerpt:
[On Thursday, February 18, 2016, we announced] the beta release of Google Cloud Vision API. Now anyone can submit their images to the Cloud Vision API to understand the contents of those images — from detecting everyday objects (for example, “sports car,” “sushi,” or “eagle”) to reading text within the image or identifying product logos.
With the beta release of Cloud Vision API, you can access the API with location of images stored in Google Cloud Storage, along with existing support of embedding an image as part of the API request. We’re also announcing pricing for Cloud Vision API and added additional capabilities to identify the dominant color of an image. For example, you can now apply Label Detection on an image for as little as $2 per 1,000 images or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for $0.60 for 1,000 images. Pricing will be effective, starting March 1st.
From DSC:
Talk about a potential money maker with significant profit margins! Geez. A serious, new business model.
Also see:
Interactive app brings 4th-century thinker to life — from campustechnology.com by Toni Fuhrman
At Villanova University, a student-developed app version of Augustine’s Confessions brings contemporary vitality and relevance to a classic 4th-century work.
Excerpt:
Augustine of Hippo, who lived from A.D. 354 to 430, might be surprised to find his Confessions in circulation today, including a number of e-book versions. Still widely read, popular in great books programs and studied in university classes, The Confessions of St. Augustine is autobiography and confession, spiritual quest and emotional journey.
One of the most recent electronic versions of the Confessions is an interactive app developed at Villanova University (PA), the nation’s only Augustinian Catholic University. Released three months ago on Augustine’s birthday (Nov. 13), the Confessions app is required for all freshmen as part of a “foundation” course. Available for both Apple and Android devices, the app includes the 13 books of the Confessions, authoritative commentaries, photo gallery, timeline, map and text-highlighted audio, as well as search, note-taking, annotation and bookmark options.
“What better way to reflect on and update this struggle than for today’s students to use technology to bring the text to life through visual, audio and analytical components?”
From DSC:
Love the idea. Love the use of teams — including students — to produce this app!
50 of the best teaching & learning apps for 2016 — from teachthought.com
Excerpt:
What are the best teaching and learning apps for 2016? That’s a good question this post looks to answer.
Every year, we put together a collection of what we believe are the best teaching and learning apps for that year. (Here, for example, is our 2015 version of the list below, where you will notice about half the apps are the same, and half have changed. That’s not bad for progress, is it?
This year, we were asked by the good folks at Easelly (the infographic and visual data platform) to create a collection of resources that while including their apps, would curate a lot of good stuff teachers would benefit from in 2016. Since we were preparing to release our TeachThought Editor’s Choice: 2016 Best Teaching and Learning Apps–and have used Easelly for years ourselves–we combined the two projects to give you something you can use to guide your #edtech integration this year.
6 ed tech tools to try in 2016 — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez
Excerpt:
About a year ago, I published an e-book called the Teacher’s Guide to Tech. Over the last month, I have been updating it for 2016, adding over 30 new tools and refreshing the information I had about the original ones. I have to say, the 2015 version was excellent, but now it’s SO MUCH BETTER. (To take a peek at the guide, scroll to the bottom of this post.)
In the process, I discovered some tools that I absolutely fell in love with, and I wanted to share them with you here. Each of these tools can make your teaching more efficient and effective, and your students’ learning deeper and more engaging.
Let’s take a look.
Visit Shakespeare’s London at FIU’s new virtual reality facility — from cec.fiu.edu
Excerpt:
It’s 1598, and you’re on your way to the Globe Theater to watch one of Shakespeare’s plays. You walk along the dirt roads and the green fields of London and you realize you can see the London Bridge in the distance. A vagabond asks you for a coin, and you find the village houses and the town market bustling with customers. Once you arrive at the theater, you watch the first few minutes of the opening monologue of “Henry V.”
This is a virtual world created by a multidisciplinary team of FIU students – and you can immerse yourself in this time-travel journey starting Jan. 29 when the I-CAVE opens at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.
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Google brings commenting to sheets and slides on mobile— from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois
Excerpt:
Google announced [on 1/28/16] a couple of updates to the commenting features in its Google Apps productivity suite.
These include the launch of mobile commenting in the iOS and Android apps for Slides and Sheets. Thanks to this, the commenting experience in Google’s apps is now (almost) the same across all of its apps — whether on the web or on mobile. I’m not sure why Google didn’t already offer this before, but better late than never, right?
10 very good tools for student researchers — from educatorstechnology.com
Excerpt:
One of the onerous parts in essay and academic writing is the bibliography section. Managing, organizing and citing references can sometimes be a real challenge especially if you don’t keep track of what and who you cite. The last thing you want after a strenuous writing task is a messy bibliography with one reference missing a page number, the other needs publication date or, worse of all, having to go back to your sources to check for the source of that quotation you included in your conclusion. If you find yourself constantly grappling with problems such as these, the web tools below are absolutely something you might need to consider. These are some of the best applications for organizing, managing, and publishing bibliographies, citations and references. Some of these softwares are integrated with Google Scholar.
Fresco News app brings crowdsourced journalism to Apple TV — from imore.com by Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Excerpt:
Fresco News, an app that crowdsources news footage by allowing citizen journalists to upload and share their photos videos of current events around the globe, has officially launched an Apple TV app. With the app, users can check out first-hand accounts of events around the world on the big screen through their Apple TV.
5 Apple TV fitness apps to get in shape on a budget — from macworld.com by Caitlin McGarry
There are tons of streaming TV apps, but I’m on the hunt for a streaming workout app that won’t cost a fortune.
Excerpt:
The fourth-generation Apple TV now has more than 3,600 tvOS apps, Apple revealed in its first-quarter earnings call Tuesday. Most of those are games or streaming video apps, and there are tons of great options in both categories. When it comes to fitness, which seems to me a natural fit for the TV, the selection is sparse. But still, I was sure at least one Apple TV app would have what I was looking for: a cheap way to stay in shape. But it wasn’t that easy.
Best iPhone 6 and 6s tripods for stablizing and mounting — from imore.com by Brent Zaniewski
A dependable tripod can enhance your iPhone photography skills and help you get an otherwise impossible shot.
Livestream unveils new device for affordable multi-camera productions — from bizbash.com by Mitra Sorrells
The tiny Movi camera links with an iOS app for real-time recording, editing, and streaming from events.
Excerpt:
Planners interested in creating multi-camera video productions at their events will soon have a new, inexpensive option. Livestream, the company behind live online events for brands such as Tesla, Salesforce.com, the N.B.A., and more, has created a 2.5-inch device that lets users record and edit in real time between nine virtual high-definition cameras. Movi is available for preorder for delivery in April, currently at a price of $299.
This lens can widen your view into a classroom for only $10 — from blog.edthena.com
How Five EdTech Start-Ups Are Using Big Data To Boost Business Education — from by Seb Murray
MOOC platforms explore analytics with b-school partners
Addendum on 2/1/16:
Addendum on 2/2/16:
Why augmented reality is expected to be four times bigger than virtual reality — from networkworld.com by Colin Neagle
Although virtual reality products like Oculus Rift have attracted more attention lately, augmented reality devices like Google Glass might have more potential in the market.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Among the use cases Merel listed for AR going forward is “a-commerce,” a new term that he called a “cousin of e-commerce and m-commerce” and which Digi-Capital forecasts to account for a significant share of all AR revenues. Presumably, a-commerce would mean that an AR device like smart glasses would project information like promotions in nearby retail stores or detailed product content along with the ability to make purchases directly from an AR app.
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