Michigan Universities Pool Funds To Buy More Cores — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser
On 12/07/2010,
in computer science, higher education,
by Daniel Christian
On 12/06/2010,
in 3D, computer science, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, immersion, mathematics, research, science, simulations, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
UMC packs 3-D visuals into cutting-edge research lab — from grandforksherald.com by Ryan Johnson
$145,000 virtual immersion lab creates realistic 3-D simulations
Think virtual reality, only more realistic. Add to that cutting edge-technology and the ability to interact with and walk around 3-D holograms and you get the newest addition to the University of Minnesota-Crookston, complete with special effects impressive enough to put the 2009 blockbuster film “Avatar” to shame
— Dr. Adel Ali from grandforksherald.com
The incredible growth of supercomputing performance, 1995 – 2010 — from Royal Pingdom
Computer hardware has become infinitely more powerful through the years, a trend that has allowed computer makers to push the performance to levels we almost thought were impossible just a decade earlier. The exponential growth of computing performance is very noticeable when you examine how the performance of the world’s most powerful computer systems, the supercomputers, has changed over time.
…
Here is the performance of the fastest supercomputer in the world, the past 15 years:
- Top in 2010: 2.57 petaflops
- Top in 2005: 280.6 teraflops
- Top in 2000: 4.94 teraflops
- Top in 1995: 170 gigaflops
If we set the fastest supercomputer in 1995 as the baseline:
- The top supercomputer in 2000 was 19 times faster.
- The top supercomputer in 2005 was 1,650 times faster.
- The top supercomputer in 2010 was 15,100 times faster.
Or, illustrated with a chart:
Also see:
Rewriting Moores Law with faster improvement in computer speed using IBM silicon photonics
On 11/30/2010,
in CMS/LMS, computer science, mobile learning, mobile technologies, programming,
by Daniel Christian
Mobile App Review – mBook — from moodlenews.com by Joseph Thibault
mBook is the 2nd app for Mobile Moodle developed by MassMedia (MassMedia.hk) from Hong Kong. This is an expanded version of mPage specifically tailored for use on the iPad (the app is not available on any other OS). This app is also a hybrid, requiring a purchase from the Apple App Store as well as installed files on your Moodle server (server side installation files are available from http://mbooks.hk/mod/resource/view.php?id=2). NOTE: the same files for mPage are required for mBook (so installing for one of the apps makes your site ready for the other, which is a plus).
mBook is listed at $3.99 in the Apple App Store.
On 11/22/2010,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, computer science, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), mobile technologies, online media, programming, technologies for your home,
by Daniel Christian
On 11/19/2010,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, e-books, Google, interactivity, internet, open courseware and systems, web design and production,
by Daniel Christian
On 11/09/2010,
in analytics, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, computer science, future, game-changing environment, mobile technologies, tablets, trends, ubiquitous learning, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Gartner’s top 10 technologies for 2011 — from GlobalKnowledge.com by Larry Dignan; with special thanks to Mr. Cal Keen, Calvin College, for this resource
- Cloud computing
- Mobile apps and media tablets
- Next-gen analytics
- Social analytics
- Social communication and collaboration
- Video
- Context-aware computing
- Ubiquitous computing
- Storage class memory
- Fabric based infrastructure and computers
On 11/08/2010,
in computer science, digital audio, emerging technologies, future, mobile technologies, programming, tools, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
On 10/30/2010,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, Daniel S. Christian, learning agents, learning ecosystem, programming,
by Daniel Christian
On 10/29/2010,
in career development, computer science, programming, student-related, web design and production, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 10/29/2010,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, Microsoft, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, tools, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
The future of Microsoft Windows Azure: Platform as a service — from arstechnica.com by Peter Bright
.
At PDC yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its roadmap for the Windows Azure cloud computing platform. Moving beyond mere Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), the company is positioning Windows Azure as a Platform-as-a-Service offering: a comprehensive set of development tools, services, and management systems to allow developers to concentrate on creating available, scalable applications.
Over the next 12-18 months, a raft of new functionality will be rolled out to Windows Azure customers. These features will both make it easier to move existing applications into the cloud, and enhance the services available to cloud-hosted applications.
— my thanks to Professor Joel Adams at Calvin College for this resource
Also see:
Exploring Computational Thinking
Google is committed to promoting computational thinking throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this 21st century skill.
On 10/27/2010,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, programming, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
In reading Ray Ozzie’s views of the future (Ray is the departing high-level visionary at Microsoft), it was interesting to note that Ray points out the dangers of complexity — at least in the world of computing/software development. Quotes from both 2005 and 2010 are below:
Complexity kills. It sucks the life out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build and test, it introduces security challenges, and it causes end-user and administrator frustration. Moving forward, within all parts of the organization, each of us should ask “What’s different?”, and explore and embrace techniques to reduce complexity.
Complexity kills. Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration.
On 10/27/2010,
in Apple, budgets, business side of he, collaboration, computer science, creativity, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, ideas, K-12 related, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, music, programming, project-based learning,
by Daniel Christian
.
Concept, graphics, idea from Daniel S. Christian:
But free for your taking and implementing!
.
What:
- Choir Practice: A mobile-based method of practicing one’s part
Features
- The ability for the choir member to go directly to measure ____
- The ability for the choir member to highlight measures ____ through ____ (like highlighting text in Microsoft Word), then click on the play button to loop through those measures
- One could speed up a song up or slow it down (without affecting pitch)
- The application would allow for all of the vocal parts to begin playing upon downloading a pre-packaged song or the application could always start playing with a certain part (i.e. 1st or 2nd soprano, alto, tenor, or bass)
- The musical notes could be the same color or one could choose to display the notes in different colors
- Bonus features might include a video of a director directing this song
Why:
- This type of thing would be a great cross-disciplinary assignment for your institution’s curriculum — Music and Computer Science come to mind for this application
- Your institution could sell this application on Apple’s App Store to develop a new revenue stream
- Your choirs could produce the packaged songs / tracks
- Plus, such an app would help choir members learn their parts — 24x7x365 — in the car, on the road, in the gym, etc.
- Enhances one’s ability to listen to other parts as well
- Aids your marketing departments as you point to this as a solid deliverable from your programs
- Creates “study aids” for your own school’s choirs/students as well as for choirs at smaller churches and institutions (worldwide)
- Helps those choir members who don’t have access to a piano or don’t know how to play a piano
Have fun whomever takes this idea and runs with it! The choirs of the world will appreciate you — and so will their audiences! 🙂
Along these lines…another win-win here includes:
That students in the future (I hope) will be able to choose from a multitude of potential roles when presented with multi-disciplinary projects/assignments/courses:
- Vocalists, pianists, and other type of musicians
- Composers
- Programmers
- Graphic artists
- Videographers / video editors
- Audio specialists
- Writers
- Project Managers
- Actresses/Actors
- etc.
As such, students could:
- Learn to appreciate other disciplines
- Participate in/contribute to projects that could be published on the web
- Exercise their creativity
- Practice being innovative
Daniel Christian