Story last updated at 9:53 a.m. Thursday, August 5, 2004
Hays High students excited about hitting the iBooks this year
HAYS (AP) -- When teachers at Hays High School tell their students to
open their books this school year, there's a chance they won't be
referring to a textbook.
Students who showed up for enrollment this week at the western Kansas
school -- about 1,000 of them in all -- walked away with a new Apple
iBook laptop computer thanks to a school board initiative passed
earlier this year.
The laptops were issued during enrollment to give students time before
classes begin to familiarize themselves with the computers, Principal
Mike Hester said.
Parents received a letter listing day and night time iBook training
classes that run through Friday.
The district made the decision to purchase laptops for the high school
when the computer technology lease agreement for the district was up
for renewal, Hester said. Money saved by using less paper also helped
fund the new portable computers.
[...]
...complete story at:
http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/080504/sta_0805040028.shtml
=======================================
HF-Lima rethinks use of middle-school laptops
By Dolores Orman
Staff Writer
(August 5, 2004) — HONEOYE FALLS — The Honeoye Falls-Lima school board
is trying to figure out what to do about the middle school laptop
computer project that was launched in February with a focus on use at
school and at home.
That's because “there have been some people in the community who have
been unhappy with the program,” Linda Hunt, school board president,
said at the start of the board meeting Tuesday night.
School district officials have acknowledged, among other things, that
there should have been greater effort to inform the community about the
program and that the development and implementation of the program was
probably too fast.
However, a school district committee charged with reviewing the middle
school project, and various options, recommended Tuesday that the “most
educationally sound” step for the 2004-05 school year is a “modified”
one-to-one (one computer per student) plan.
[...]
The district is leasing for a four-year period 711 laptops from Apple
Computer Inc. — 661 for students and 50 for teachers.
Other options before the board: Offer the program to high school
students instead; redistribute all laptops throughout the district;
redistribute all laptops on carts in the middle and high schools; do a
one-to-one pilot of smaller middle school groups and redistribute the
rest of the laptops; reduce student computer use and return the
laptops; and maintain a one-to-one for seventh and eighth grades and
use laptops on a cart for sixth grade, freeing up computers for other
schools.
Hagerman suggested the last option as an alternative to the one the
committee favors.
...complete story at:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/08056E551JI_news.shtml
...from:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=579
Apple to release Xcode 1.5 this week
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 10:00 AM EST
Apple Computer yesterday announced to its Apple Developer Connection
(ADC) members that it has completed the development of Xcode 1.5, the
latest version of its integrated development environment for Mac OS X
10.3 Panther.
According to a set of developer notes accompanying the release, Xcode
1.5 includes remote debugging, code completion for Java and
AppleScript, subversion source-code control system support and native
build system support for AppleScript.
Additionally, sources said the release will pack an enhanced debugger
with a memory browser, globals browser, and ability to display file
static variables, faster editor performance, Ant templates ,
documentation bookmarks, and overall speed improvements.
This latest build, 7K571, contains Xcode IDE 389, Xcode Core 387, and
Tool Support 372.
Earlier reports indicate that Xcode 1.5 will also include updates to
the user interface, code sense, inspectors, building, source code
management and file editing.
In 2005, Apple will release Xcode 2.0 as part of its Mac OS X 10.4
Tiger distribution. This second major release of groundbreaking
development tools is said to include a visual modeling interface,
remote debugging, an integrated Apple Reference Library, 64-bit
support, and improvements for Java developers.
Apple has reportedly informed developers that an official release of
Xcode 1.5 is expected on Thursday, at which time it will available to
both paying and free ADC account holders.
The software is currently being seeded as a full update, distributed
in multiple image segments.
===============================
...from press release at:
http://www.codeweavers.com/site/about/general/press/?id=20040803;
cw=f16bec3c4f991bff9184ef9e0de0b8c3
CodeWeavers Adds Support For Apple iTunes In New CrossOver OfficeTM 3.1
Preview
Most Requested CrossOver Office Enhancement Now Available for Limited
Evaluation;
Application Allows Dozens of Windows Programs to Run Natively in Linux
MOSCONE CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO / BOOTH 1661 - (August 3, 2004) -
CodeWeavers, Inc., the leading Windows-to-Linux software developer,
today announced the release of an evaluation preview of CrossOver
Office 3.1, the latest upgrade to the world's leading and most reliable
Windows-to-Linux application solution. The pre-beta preview, announced
at LinuxWorld 2004 Conference and Expo in San Francisco and available
to existing CrossOver Office users only, includes new support for
iTunes®, Apple's exciting digital jukebox and download store program.
Since its initial release in 2002, CrossOver Office has significantly
impacted the growth and practicality of the Linux operating system
among desktop computer users. CrossOver Office enables many leading
Windows applications including Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and
Visio; Intuit Quicken; Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash; and Apple
QuickTime to operate natively under Linux with no secondary emulator
needed.
With iTunes support, CrossOver Office users will be able to download
and organize songs from the iTunes Music Store. Soon they will also be
able to plug their iPod into their Linux PC for music transfers and
other jukebox-related tasks.
[...]
===========================
...from:
http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2004-08-02.html
MOZILLA FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SECURITY BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM
Program harnesses power of the open source community to identify
security vulnerabilities before they are exploited
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - August 2, 2004 - The Mozilla Foundation today
announced the Mozilla Security Bug Bounty Program, an initiative that
rewards users who identify and report security vulnerabilities in the
open source project's software. Under the new program, users reporting
critical security bugs - as judged by the Mozilla Foundation staff -
will collect a $500 cash prize. The new initiative was launched with
funding from leading Linux software developer Linspire, Inc., and
renowned Internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.
[...]
==========================
Apple has supplied an RSS feed for iTunes releases and most popular
songs. It can be found at:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wo/2.1
Go to the page, select the music genre of your choice, and the page
will generate a URL suitable for inclusion in your RSS reader. Just
copy and paste it as a new RSS feed site.
(and for those of you who are not yet using RSS:
- RDF
Resource Description Framework. A language derived from XML which
describes metadata. Commonly used as a backend format for articles and
other publications. For more detailed information on RDF files, you
might want to go directly to the official page on RDF files at the
World Wide Web Consortium.
RSS
The RDF Site Summary is actually an extension to the RDF language.
Quoting the official RSS v1.0 specification:
‘RDF Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight multipurpose extensible
metadata description and syndication format. RSS is an XML
application, conforms to the W3C's RDF specification and is
extensible via XML-namespace and/or RDF based modularization.’
... or to put it another way:
RSS allows its users to quickly and easily browse the latest news
headlines from hundreds of different websites using a friendly and
familiar interface. If you have the right RSS application it may have
built-in support for synchronizing headlines and news stories with Palm
OS PDAs and Apple iPods menaing that you can take your news with you.
More info at:
- http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html
- http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/2.html
... which, simply, means that "news" source headlines (New York Times,
Wall Street Journal, iTunes ::-) can all quickly be scanned with one
simple application: an RSS Reader.
Since you ask, there are various RSS Reader applications (and news feed
sites) available. One simple, freeware RSS app (NewsMac for OSX 10.2
and above) can be found at:
http://www.thinkmac.co.uk/newsmac/
...from:
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/ipods_0704.html
Monday, July 19, 2004 | DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University will
distribute Apple iPods to its incoming freshmen, as part of an
initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and
campus life.
The pocket-sized digital devices, which can download and make use of
both audio and text material, will be preloaded with Duke-related
content, such as information for freshman orientation and the academic
calendar. Through a special Duke Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes
site, students also can download faculty-provided course content,
including language lessons, music, recorded lectures and audio books.
They also will be able to purchase music through the site.
Duke officials said the iPod distribution is part of a pilot program
between Duke and Apple Computer, Inc. that will be evaluated after a
year. Duke is paying for the project with strategic planning funds that
it has set aside for one-time innovative technology purposes. The total
cost of the project is expected to reach $500,000 or more, which
includes hiring an academic computing specialist for the project, grant
funding for faculty, associated research costs and the purchase of the
iPods.
"This iPod pilot program is an exciting new component of Duke's
strategic plan, which seeks to use information technology in innovative
ways within the classroom and across the campus," said Provost Peter
Lange, the university's senior academic officer.
"We're approaching this as an experiment, one we hope will motivate our
faculty and students to think creatively about using digital audio
content and a mobile computing environment to advance educational goals
in the same way that iPods and similar devices have had such a big
impact on music distribution," said Tracy Futhey, vice president for
information technology. "We think the power and flexibility of these
devices offer some real advantages over other media used to distribute
educational content such as CD-ROMs and DVDs."
Futhey said she also expects students to develop their own content and
interesting new uses for the devices. "I could easily imagine our
student newspaper creating a weekly or daily audio editorial that
students could listen to as they walk across campus," she said.
Lynne O'Brien, director of Duke's Center for Instructional Technology
(CIT), noted that over the last two years a growing number of faculty
members have shown interest in adding audio and video components to
their courses.
"The iPod project will encourage faculty to experiment with adding
elements such as music, foreign language and poetry to class
curricula," she said. O'Brien cited as an example the elementary
Spanish course taught by visiting assistant professor Lisa Merschel.
Students in that course will use the iPods to listen to audio examples
of textbook exercises, hear Spanish songs and record their own efforts
to speak Spanish. In another course on environmental ethics, taught by
adjunct professor Sally Schauman, students will use their iPods to
record lectures and, while in the field, take notes and record
interviews.
O'Brien said she expects other Duke faculty members to suggest ideas
over the coming academic year to supplement those already slated for
inclusion in the pilot program. "We will be inviting faculty to submit
project ideas early in the fall semester," she said.
Lange said Duke will distribute the iPods to students Aug. 19, 2004, as
part of freshman orientation. "We're limiting our distribution to this
single class because it will make it easier for us to evaluate their
experience relative to other students and determine whether the iPods
promoted educational innovation as we hope. Duke students, like
students at most universities, are already comfortable with the
Internet and new technologies, and we think they'll rise to the
challenge of working with their professors and others to develop new
ways of learning. As with other technology innovations, we will
evaluate this experiment carefully," Lange said.
The 1,650 20-GB iPods distributed to Duke freshmen are the
latest-generation ipods from Apple and are compatible with both Mac and
Windows systems, as are an additional 150 iPods slated for other
academic and support needs. The iPods given to the first-year students
will become property of the recipients. Students who do not own their
own computers will also be able to participate in the project through
computing laboratories on campus.
The university has developed a technical support plan for students that
includes a one-year warranty on each iPod and assistance through the
Duke Computer Store and the OIT help desk. Students who lose their
iPods will be able to purchase a new one through the Duke Computer
Store. Upperclassmen enrolled in classes utilizing iPods will be given
loaners for the duration of the course.
Duke's CIT, Office of Student Affairs, Office of the Provost, Office of
the Executive Vice President and Office of Information Technology (OIT)
are collaborating with Apple on the iPod project.
For additional information, contact:
David Menzies | phone: (919) 684-2151 | email: david.menzies(a)duke.edu
