"Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself." John Dewey

Not too long ago I did a presentation about teaching in libraries. During it I recommend staying on top of tech issues by listening to podcasts. The list below is just some of the ones I listen to on a weekly basis. Not all are 100% tech but all are information.

• NYTimes Tech Podcast

This is more like tech magazine. You don’ t need to be a geek to follow along . They give great tips. Vocab and awesome interviews

• Crave

A British CNET podcast discussing current tech issues. It is fun and enjoyable and sometimes a bit insane. Occasionally I mentally tune out when they are discussing Britain only issues but this is minor.

• NPR Tech Podcast

This is a compilation of anything tech mentioned throughout NPR’s broadcast. This is ice because you end up with stuff from all over the spectrum. Also they explain it so eve the non techies will stay interested.

“Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.” Daniel J. Boorstin

I do my very best to keep up with technology news but I am always failing at it. There is just too much so I count on a lot of news sources to bubble it up for me and review so that I can be interested and read more in depth. Once such news source is NPR’s All Tech Considered. They have some fantastic reporters and really interesting takes on the tech world that very few repeat. One particular commentator is Omar L. Gallaga. His segments are short and sweet and almost always interesting. I would recommend giving a listen to any of his information. You can also read a ton of new stuff on the site itself from all sorts of great people. Give this a try.

"If little else, the brain is an educational toy." Tom Robbins

I listen to a lot of podcasts everyday to try to stay on top of info. However I do not look forward to all of them but I do enjoy On the Media’s podcast. It airs on NPR stations and this week they had a segment about a subject that some students have been asking about. The topic is what is going to happen with people raised on the net. In the library this is a regular conversation. Are people reading less or are they just reading standard media less? Are our brains being rewired by the internet? Is the net making us dumb?
Below are a few interviews discussing the subject of the Net Effect. You can also head over to their site to hear and see all of their stuff.

“I am terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music will be put on records forever” Arthur Sullivan

I know I don’t usually have a book recommendation but this one sounds great. I heard an interview with Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper on NPR’s Fresh Air. They were discussing the downfall of the record industry and his new book Appetite For Self-Destruction. I plan to pick this one up. Essentially it is the history of the industry from the early times when they produced a strange flat disc with grooves. I believe some refer to this an album or record. Hmmm strange looking things. Anyway the book takes you from there to the super powerful and money making times of the 70’s and 80’s to the beginning of the end in the mid nineties. It truly sounded fascinating. You can read an excerpt listen to the interview here. If you plan to take a pass on the book at least listen to the interview. It fills in a lot of historical gaps and really explains the mess that the recording industry it currently in. Give it a try.

“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” Abraham Lincoln

On January 20th two things will happen our new president will be inaugurated and I will be freezing in DC. Many people who are at work, school, or just don’t have TV have asked me where they can watch the inauguration. To this point I have put together a list of sites and places where you can watch it. Also I will try to do a bit of live blogging from the National Mall. If I have time and inclination I will put up some photos from the action on the ground. Did I mention freezing? On to the list.

All the major channels will stream it live.

• CNN
• MSNBC
• ABC
• C-Span
• Hulu. This one is also embeddable for any site or blog.
  

Also some Starbucks coffee houses will have it on. My personal favorite so far is the movie theater. The idea of watching it on a giant screen with popcorn. It is after all political history but also political theater. The tickets are free but first come first serve. They are being shown at Providence Place Mall Cinema. That is all the info I could get without signing up.

NPR will be streaming so you can get that radio by the fireside in a darkened room sort of deal going (during the day).

Finally to put this all in perspective give this site a chance for some great histiry. They have Kennedy's and Reagan's inaugural. Really fascinating stuff.

Hope this helps.
Note: The photo is of Lincoln’s first inauguration.

"For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news." Gloria Borger

Dear reader,
Sorry there have not been any updates recently. I have been working on a few possible new classes and that requires much more time. Also the amount of tech and new sites coming out this time of year is immense. I will be resuming normal blog updates very soon. A few housekeeping things to tell you. The blue computer class schedule is not going to be printed for the foreseeable future. However you can always find the newest schedule here. Also you can sign up for emails when the newest schedule is up here. The latest schedule of classes only goes to December but I am working on January and February’s schedule now. One last thing I plan to put up a poll to find out what direction to take with the blog. If anyone has any suggestions criticisms or any questions please email.

Thank you for your patience.

Shane

Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. Gore Vidal

In our house it is politics twenty four hours a day and has been that way for what feels like two long years. Every primary, every new news event, we have tried to absorb it all. We are now in the final hours just before the moment we have been waiting for all these long months, the election. PBS and YouTube have gotten together and are asking voters, Republican, Democrat, and Independents to video their voting experience. People all over the country and world are filming everything about the voting experience. When you go to Video your Vote you see a map with a legend that explains what all the pins mean. Some represent notable voters like a Senator or celebrity voting while others are showcasing problems. By clicking on any of the pins you can watch the video from that voter. I tried out a few and was hooked. It really is exciting and interesting. Also it is not just a young crowd doing it either. The videos seem to be from people from all walks of life and experience. They have a Twitter feed as well. So if you are sick of pundits telling you how everything is going and you want an on the street viewpoint give this a try.

“Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?” Jay Leno

For what seems like a thousand years IT departments have been telling coworkers not to open email from addresses that they do not know. Now I understand this can be difficult sometimes but for the curious the game has gotten far worse. A while back I posted about the virus ladened emails hitting Europe with subject lines like “Dangerous Storm” and the damage they did. As of a couple of days ago the emails have changed to try to trap people with sensational headlines like “Eiffel tower crash” or “Donald Trump Kidnapped”. Be very wary of these. They have a link inside that leads you to a porn site that will give you a bunch of nasty spyware and other baddies. So here is the simple answer if you receive an email that is just too intriguing head to a news site and look it up there. If not you will be spending a lot of time trying to fix your computer. A second of common sense will save you hours of frustration later.

My Dad used to say 'always fight fire with fire', which is probably why he got thrown out of the the fire brigade. Harry Hill

I have been toting Firefox as the one of the best browsers for a long time. It truly has been good and inventive however it did have some problems like the fact over time it seems to slow down until you restart the application. As of yesterday Firefox 3 is out and ready to be used. I installed it on my home machine with no problems and I am loving every part of it. According to the press release it is 2-3 times faster and it seems to be. The same pages that were dragging to bring up pictures in 2 are zipping onto the page. Also other features like the Awesome Bar that is the address bar but with the ability to keyword search through your history of use is great. Some features will not be as noticeably cool but they are extremely handy like the new security measure for antiphishing. Firefox is trying to set a world record of downloads starting yesterday for a 24 hour period. I really recommend that you jump on board and take a look at the new and very highly improved Firefox. Check out the video introduction that shows you all the new features. Give this one a try

"we must capture a live earth creature K-9, and take it back with us to Mars. Isn't that a nice assignment, mmm?" Marvin, the Martian

Nothing captures my imagination and attention more than a mission into or out of space. Well this Sunday is another one of those sit way to close too the TV (computer) moments. The Phoenix Lander will arrive on mars to look for ice and anything else it can get it’s pincers around. The Landing on Mars will be approximately 7:53 p.m. (4:53 p.m. Pacific) on May 25th. If you are intrigued whether something hurtling across space and arriving into Mars’ atmosphere at over 20,000 kilometers will actually land in one piece then you can tune into NASA’s coverage. Just like Superbowl Sunday there will be a preshow stuff however the name for them is so much better, mission briefings. Seriously this is really awesome stuff. If you head to the site you can also see images of the Phoenix Lander that looks like a strangely proportioned Mickey Mouse head plus there is all sorts of video on how this thing is supposed to land. Just like geek is chic nowadays science is sexy and really cool. Give this a try and see what you think. Also consider getting together for a Lander party or heading to a one like this example in Connecticut at the Children’s Museum.

“If it's far away, it's news, but if it's close at home, it's sociology” James Reston

The Atlantic Monthly Magazine has been around for quite a while. It was founded in 1857 and it is considered a general editorial magazine. As of January this year they have dropped the requirement of registration to see back issues and made it free to view for anyone. What are the details you ask? Well you can see full issues dating back to 1995 and hundreds of articles dating back to 1857. In addition to this they also are offering slideshows, videos, and blogs to , as they out it, entice viewers to become part of their subscribership. If have ever wanted to delve in to the Atlantic’s history now is your chance. Give it a try.

"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself." Galileo Galilei

I have written many times about the challenge of keeping up with the onslaught of information. It now comes from every direction and source. Digg is just one but there are others that have a nicely compiled list of what is going on. Two other large player are Thoof supposedly uses logic to find what you actually want to see. If you like a news story and tell it so it will find others that are similar. I find this service OK but I am truly fond of Plime. It is very close to Digg but it seems to be more what I am looking for. Digg tends to be more techy geek when I want all around geek info. Everyone is going to have a different take on this subject so try out both of these services to free your inner information geek.

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.” Stewart Brand

So you decided to be part of the community labeled as the “in the know”. The only problem is where to start? TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and they are one of the premier places for new ideas. For the past three years there have been a series of talk and lectures that have been looking at all the new technology and concepts. There are tons of videos to watch on every sort of category you can imagine and many of them are from the big players in the industries. To sort through all the speakers and find something interesting they have used a type of tag cloud. Meaning you can look at through a list of videos or you can turn on visualization and it will resize all the talks by things like which one was the most emailed or talked about. This makes it easy to really understand what is more popular. If you want to see the “new stuff” before it is the “old stuff” then give this one a try.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.'" Galadriel - J.R.R. Tolkien

Happy Caucus Day! I have been waiting for this holiday for what seems like an eternity. Now if you are not a political junkie by now it is time for you to catch up. This is the one time of year a really tiny group begins to decide something for a gigantic nation, as in who will be president. Around 100,000 people will give a big old push to a couple of candidates tonight and influence the rest of the race. Now, how do you catch up? I recommend heading to our friend Wikipedia for the basics. . Second I love the Podcast It’s all politics from NPR. It is a comical look at the goings on brought to you by two well known political pundits. They should have a new episode tomorrow with any luck. Finally something from out of nowhere a musical about the Iowa Caucus. How could you go wrong? Also I should mention Youtube’s Caucus time videos. They are videos with people who will be doing be a discussin’ and a votin’. So get some pizza, get excited, and give these sites a try.

A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

When I teach eBay classes I get very worried looks when I bring up the words credit cards online. There is a real hypocrisy when it comes to us using credit cards online versus anywhere else and I am just as guilty. The question I always ask is “Do you use your card at a restaurant?” Most people would say yes. We will give a complete stranger a key to our finances without thinking of it but we hem and haw when it comes to a secure database online. I argue that it is far safer to use it online (with caution) than in regular life. To support this I say it is easier to grab your numbers or steal your cards than it is to hack something online. Now I understand there is hacking online and some places do have problems but not to the extent that theft is there in real life. The news show 60 Minutes did a segment just recently on credit card leaks at stores. The y showed the unfortunate ease of grabbing your numbers. This means when you use your card at your favorite store, and you feel safe because it never leaves your sight, your numbers are actually flying through the air to a router and a server. Some stores have not made this secure and your info can be easily captured as we all saw when Marshals stores had been in the news. Now should you be scared all the time? I would say a decent bit of paranoia is OK but I would not build the bunker yet. Take precautions like contacting your CC company and asking them what they have in place to guard against problems. Now that I am armed with info like the 60 minutes spot and reading online I am becoming more of online shopper than ever before. I have written on this blog about some of the pitfalls like phishing and bad sellers but these are minor in comparison to the problem with the stores. So for the time being I may pay in cash in person and save my Credit Card for the virtual stores.

Alright fine I will still use my card at restaurants as well.

“Histories are a kind of distilled newspapers” Thomas Carlyle

So you are a news hound and nothing excites you more than reading the paper well then the New York Times has something for you. Recently they opened up their archives that have only been accessible if you had subscribed. They have two sections 1981 to the present which is available in text from only and 1851 to 1980 in PDF from. Clarification is needed here. Some articles are still being charged to view. All the articles previous to 1923 are free in PDF format. 1923 on till 81 might be charged. It is a hit or miss feature. However if you are looking for some recent research (80’s till now) or you want to go way back (23 and previous) all seems free. PDF format is a standard format that any system can open. To read it you will need a Adobe Acrobat which is free. To access all of the archives just go to NYTIMES.com and use the search bar at the top of the page. You can adjust the period by clicking on the pull down menu. So if you need to do some research from one of the largest papers in the US it is time to give it a try.

“The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple.” Freeman Dyson

I keep hearing the phrase the future of technology but what it is? Well, I do not know but I have seen glimpses of it. One new tech, that isn’t so new, is OLED. Now this is not, as I always hear, a game changer but this is a beginning to and end. You have heard of LED. They are in everything from flashlights to stoplights. The reason they are so great is they use about a ¼ of the electricity of incandescents and they are generally brighter. OLED are organic light emitting diodes. They are organic because they are made from algae and when electricity is run through the algae it lights up. Who cares you say, well over the next five years TV and other equipment will be made out of this stuff. Does it make it better? Yes it is brighter and better quality then what you have seen before. Oh and it is thinner. A lot thinner, about as thick as a cereal box cardboard. It is also bendable. This means that the viewing of things will start to change from a static screen in the living room to, eventually, wearable screens. Think clothing that has video running through it. Now this does not mean tomorrow this is happening but because of the flexibility, decreased use of electricity, and clarity the paths have opened up. Below is a video showing off a prototype from Sony. Look for it soon.

“As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.” Benjamin Disraeli

Today I wanted to revisit an earlier post about Google Alerts. I have had my alerts setup for quite a while and unless I need to change something I rarely visit the management page so I was sorely unaware of the changes. You used to only be able to choose to be alerted when a news article came up or if a search result would come up but now there is information in every corner of the net. So they have made it easier, instead of choosing the other two you can choose comprehensive. This will search News, web search results, blogs, groups, and anything else where your search is mentioned. I recommend going back to make the changes. Give it a try.

extra

I was doing some research for classes and more blog entries and I came across a Rocketboom episode that seemed to explain my earlier post. I will blog about Rocketboom soon but in the meantime if you have the sound on click and watch this nice little video.

“It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.” Dan Quayle

Keeping with the environmental theme I give you a podcast and a site I am fond of. The Grist website is full of news and commentary. Now if you want eco-info that is dry avoid this site. I find Grist brings a sometimes dull subject to life and give some real perspective. Also their podcast is consistently well done and with some humor. You can download it or listen on the site. Give it a try.