IT Trends :: Thursday, April 20, 2006
New Technology
Microsoft's Google Scholar Rival Set to Go Live
Named "Windows Live Academic Search" service, Microsoft's take on academic searching may be available in beta form at sometime this week – maybe before you read this. Microsoft has promised it by September, but outside sources say it's coming ASAP. It will allow users to search academic journals and other scholarly publications according to information posted on the Liveside.net blog, which isn't affiliated with Microsoft…(ITworld.com)
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An Anti-Apple Conspiracy at Virginia Tech?
Some Virginia Tech students are unhappy with a new requirement at the engineering school that all incoming freshmen must have tablet PCs. Their complaints? (1) They say that classes hardly demand they use the laptops that have already been required. (2) Apparently there are no Apple tablets, so requiring tablets eliminates the PC/Apple choice…(Collegiate Times)
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Babson President Shares Podcast
All future university and college presidents may want to do a stint with NPR early in their careers. Babson is the focus here – not just the president, but some of the other ways it is using podcasting. Eric Mankin, executive director of Babson’s innovation and corporate entrepreneurship research center, produces a weekly podcast on the latest innovations in business. The article is lengthy and covers a lot of ground…(MetroWestDailyNews.com)
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Software Teaches Troops Valuable Cultural Skills
The University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute has developed Tactical Iraqi, a cultural awareness program for use by the United States Army and Marines. Players navigate a set of real-life scenarios by learning a set of Arabic phrases, culturally relevant gestures and taboos. Following each lesson, the player is asked to interact with other characters using speech and gestures, while a speech-recognition system records and evaluates the responses…(Wired News)
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