IT Trends :: Thursday, September 7, 2006
Deals, Contracts, Awards
George Washington Students to Get a Taste of iTunes U
This year, students at George Washington University will be able to download recorded classroom lectures straight from iTunes to their iPods. Critics of this new teaching tool raise questions about the need for a classroom experience at all. One student even says, "It seems like a good idea, but it might give students more incentive not to go to class." The school's assistant vice president of academic technology counters, "Students use the class lectures as a mobile review – as opposed to a replacement for class attendance." He adds that end-of-year assessments made by Duke and Stanford University showed no slump in class attendance for classes with iTunes U technology…
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Solar Power May Soon Bring the Web to Remote Areas
Now that the One Laptop Per Child program is under way, experts are asking how a child with one of these $100 computers will access the Internet from a remote village that d'esn't even have electricity. The One Laptop Per Child initiative is now working with the Green Wi-Fi project to resolve this problem. One solution is described as "an off-the-shelf wireless router connected to a battery that is recharged by a solar panel." An "intelligent charge controller" regulates the power consumption of the router. Test runs indicate that this addition allows the wireless node to run for up to four weeks, even if the sky remains overcast for prolonged periods of time…
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