infoneer pulse

"over the past few months, something has changed. The elite, pace-setting universities have embraced..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:21:29 -0400

“over the past few months, something has changed. The elite, pace-setting universities have embraced the Internet. Not long ago, online courses were interesting experiments. Now online activity is at the core of how these schools envision their futures”

- The Campus Tsunami - NYTimes.com (via interestingsnippets)

"Google says that its search engine now contains 500 million objects and knows more than 3.5 billion..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:02:24 -0400

“Google says that its search engine now contains 500 million objects and knows more than 3.5 billion facts ‘and relationships between these different objects.’”

- ‘Information’ To ‘Knowledge Agent’: Google Changes The Way It Does Search (via courtenaybird)

"People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa. Both creativity..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 07:57:43 -0400

“People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa.
Both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase cognitive disinhibition—the brain’s failure to filter out extraneous information.
When unfiltered information reaches conscious awareness in the brains of people who are highly intelligent and can process this information without being overwhelmed, it may lead to exceptional insights and sensations.”

- The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric: Scientific American (via wildcat2030)

Teenage girls face sexting threat from friends

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:28:14 -0400

Teenage girls face sexting threat from friends:

“Up until now, e-safety campaigns have focused on preparing young people to face dangers posed by strangers online,” said Professor Rosalind Gill from King’s College, one of the authors.

“Our report suggests that the focus needs to shift to include the much more complicated issue of peer-to-peer communication and the difficulties and isolation young people experience in negotiating this,” she added.

Jon Brown, head of the sexual abuse programme at the NSPCC, said the revelations were disturbing.

“What’s most striking about this research is that many young people seem to accept all this as part of life. But it can be another layer of sexual abuse and, although most children will not be aware, it is illegal.”

» via BBC

"It’s just a matter o time until we see the same meltdown in traditional college education. Like the..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:41:13 -0400

“It’s just a matter o time until we see the same meltdown in traditional college education. Like the real estate industry, prices will rise until the market revolts. Then it will be too late. STudents will stop taking out the loans traditional Universities expect them to. And when they do tuition will come down. And when prices come down Universities will have to cut costs beyond what they are able to. They will have so many legacy costs, from tenured professors to construction projects to research they will be saddled with legacy costs and debt in much the same way the newspaper industry was. Which will all lead to a de-levering and a de-stabilization of the University system as we know it.”

- The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon « blog maverick

"Apple’s success should serve as a lesson to every small business looking to survive in the age of..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:54:35 -0400

“Apple’s success should serve as a lesson to every small business looking to survive in the age of Amazon. There are lots of things the Web does very well, and every year, it gets better. If you build a business that merely replicates one of the Web’s strong suits—selling books or music, making travel arrangements, that kind of thing—you’re obviously gonna be toast. But the Web has blind spots—services it doesn’t reliably perform well now, and services it won’t ever be able to reliably perform well. If you’re starting a small company now, you’ve got to make sure your firm fits in one of these buckets. Find some place where the Web fails, and see if you can create an online service that amends that failure. Failing that, create an offline company that’s Amazon-proof—one whose future can’t be disrupted by a digital service because its very purpose is to offer direct human contact.”

- To start a successful small business, look for what the Web does poorly. By Farhad Manjoo - 10 Rules for Starting a Small Business - Slate Hive

"Chancellor Kaya Henderson said: “We have invested in full-time librarians for the last three or four..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:08:45 -0400

“Chancellor Kaya Henderson said: “We have invested in full-time librarians for the last three or four years and we haven’t seen the kind of payoff we’d like”While noting that she is not disparaging librarians she said “We have pulled away from programs where we haven’t received a return on our investment.” Apparently a payoff on investment would involve improved test scores.”

- D.C. to cut 34 school librarians as they are a poor investment

Patent chief says backlog down to 640,000, 'lowest level in years'

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:55:18 -0400

Patent chief says backlog down to 640,000, 'lowest level in years':

David Kappos, director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, told lawmakers on Wednesday that his office has reduced its backlog of applications for utility patents to 640,491 — the “lowest level in years.”

He said it now takes the agency about 34 months to finish reviewing a patent application. Kappos agreed with lawmakers that the wait time is still too long, but said the agency is working to reduce it.

» via The Hill’s Hillicon Valley

"The importance of learning to code isn’t so that everyone will write code, and bury the world under..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:04:45 -0400

“The importance of learning to code isn’t so that everyone will write code, and bury the world under billions of lines of badly conceived Python, Java, and Ruby. The importance of code is that it’s a part of the world we live in. I’ve had enough of legislators who think the Internet is about tubes, who haven’t the slightest idea about legitimate uses for file transfer utilities, and no concept at all about what privacy (and the invasion of privacy) might mean in an online space. I’ve had enough of patent inspectors who approve patents for which prior art has existed for decades. And I’ve had enough of judges making rulings after listening to lawyers arguing about technologies they don’t understand. Learning to code won’t solve these problems, but coding does force engagement with technology on a level other than pure ignorance. Coding is a part of cultural competence, even if you never do it professionally. Alsup is a modern hero.”

- A federal judge learned to code - O’Reilly Radar (via everythingisdisrupted)

Google Docs facilitates finding facts and doing research While...

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:19:15 -0400

Google Docs facilitates finding facts and doing research

While making a travel itinerary, writing a term paper, or creating a budget in Google Docs, users no longer have to leave the confines of the word processing program to find specific facts or do research.

Google announced today the launch of a new feature called the “research pane” that lets users find information in Google search directly from within the documents program.

» via CNET

"Instinctually, we want to maintain the hunter/prey relationship of the independent citizen who..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:11:15 -0400

“Instinctually, we want to maintain the hunter/prey relationship of the independent citizen who isn’t being snooped on. But you know what? You’re already being snooped on, ceaselessly.”

- Seth’s Blog: Digital analogs are no longer sufficient

Judge comes down hard on publishers, Apple in e-book case

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:40:00 -0400

Judge comes down hard on publishers, Apple in e-book case:

In a strongly worded opinion, US District Judge Denise Cote rejected requests by Apple and five book publishers to throw out a class action suit that accuses them of price-fixing.

Citing ongoing state, federal and international antitrust investigations, Cote turned down arguments that Apple and the publishers had acted independently when they changed the pricing model for e-books.

» via paidContent

IP-Address Can’t Even Identify a State, BitTorrent Judge Rules

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:12:11 -0400

IP-Address Can’t Even Identify a State, BitTorrent Judge Rules:

The mass-BitTorrent lawsuits that are sweeping the United States are in a heap of trouble. After a Florida judge ruled that an IP-address is not a person, a Californian colleague has gone even further in protecting the First Amendment rights of BitTorrent users. The judge in question points out that geolocation tools are far from accurate and that it’s therefore uncertain that his court has jurisdiction over cases involving alleged BitTorrent pirates. As a result, 15 of these mass-BitTorrent lawsuits were dismissed.

» via TorrentFreak

Inkling will sell iPad textbooks in over 900 college bookstores

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:24:07 -0400

Inkling will sell iPad textbooks in over 900 college bookstores:

iPad textbook publisher Inkling is partnering with college bookstore provider Follett. Starting this fall, Follett will sell “hundreds of Inkling titles” in its over 900 college bookstores — including Stanford and UC Berkeley — and on its website.

» via paidContent

Michigan Explores Ideas on Computer-based Student Assessment

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:41:25 -0400

Michigan Explores Ideas on Computer-based Student Assessment:

Michigan is exploring the possibility of using online exams for student assessment in order to better gauge each test-taker’s achievement level. The implemented system would be adaptive to the skills of every student, substituting questions on the fly based on the difficulty of the question the student had answered correctly during the course of the exam. Michigan is one of 26 states in the U.S. working to develop and roll out the system, which they hope will go live after the 2014-2015 school year. The new system is thought of as a replacement for the Michigan Education Assessment Program, which will be retired.

Not only will the new system give districts a better idea of academic outcomes, the data provided will also go to helping the teachers better tailor lesson plans to their students’ particular strengths and weaknesses. As part of the rollout, so-called “interim tests” will be given throughout the year, in part to provide that kind of teacher guidance.

» via Education News

Taxpayers Fund $454,000 Pay for Collector Chasing Student Loans

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:53:05 -0400

Taxpayers Fund $454,000 Pay for Collector Chasing Student Loans:

Joshua Mandelman made $454,000 in a single year as a student-loan debt collector — more than twice the pay of the U.S. secretary of education.

His boss, Richard Boyle, chief executive officer of Educational Credit Management Corp., received $1.1 million in 2010, including commuting expenses from his ranch in New Mexico. Five other managers each took home more than $400,000.

ECMC, a Minnesota nonprofit group, owes its success to an 18-year-old agreement with the U.S. government. The company charges fees to borrowers and earns commissions from taxpayers — totaling as much as 31 percent — when it collects on defaulted student loans. Those rich rewards, which are approved by Congress, are sparking criticism that ECMC and similar collection agencies are reaping a bonanza from former students’ pain.

» via BusinessWeek

"Now I look at the school calendar and see one long string of standardized tests, most with acronyms..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:06:05 -0400

“Now I look at the school calendar and see one long string of standardized tests, most with acronyms that would make the Pentagon blush: CogAT, PSAT, CRCT, GHSGT, ITBS, BOGUS. (OK, I made that last one up.) It appears that policymakers have reduced teachers to little more than information-dispensing drones. So much for intellectual stimulation.”

- Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Teachers - On Hiring - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Are Bank Tellers Going The Way Of The Dinosaur?

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:20:07 -0400

Are Bank Tellers Going The Way Of The Dinosaur?:

Bank of America recently tested video teller machines that give customers video screen access to BofA employees located in a centralized call center. The bank says it is reviewing the results of that test before it decides how to proceed.

Meanwhile, Coastal Federal Credit Union based in North Carolina has gone ahead and installed video tellers in all of its branches.

“Branch managers don’t have to worry about manning the teller operations anymore, so they can be totally focused on the members who walk in,” explains a rep for the credit union, adding that the company saw a 40% cost savings by replacing branch tellers with video tellers.

» via The Consumerist

"The Internet is, among other things, a massive, chaotic marketplace. Too much information, it turns..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:32:48 -0400

“The Internet is, among other things, a massive, chaotic marketplace. Too much information, it turns out, is a lot like no information. “If we researched every single purchase, we wouldn’t have time to make any purchases,” says Anna Kirmani, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland. “I have better things to do with my time.””

- Making Choices in the Age of Information Overload - NYTimes.com

Bots dominate small Web site traffic, research shows

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:49:18 -0400

Bots dominate small Web site traffic, research shows:

A surprising 51 percent of traffic to an average Web site — one with 50,000 to 100,000 monthly visitors — is potentially bot generated, according to new research from Web security and performance company Incapsula.

On top of that, 31 percent of overall traffic to these such sites is malicious.

The news is worse for very small sites — or those with fewer than 2,500 monthly visitors. Incapsula examined more than a thousand small sites and found that 83 percent of each site’s traffic comes from non-human (bad bots and good bots) with bad bots accounting for 49 percent of traffic.

» via CNET