A pilot project will determine whether some free online courses are similar enough to traditional college courses that they should be eligible for credit.
While MOOC’s, massive open online courses, are still in their early days, the race has begun to integrate them into traditional colleges by making hem eligible for transfer credits, and by putting them to use in introductory and remedial courses.
Continue reading… “College credit eyed for massive open online courses”
The new credit card features an embedded LCD display and touch-sensitive buttons for generating one-time passwords.
MasterCard’s new “Display Card,” is a credit card that basically combines the usual credit/debit or ATM card with an authentication token. The authentication portion features a touch-sensitive keypad and LCD display — hence the name “Display Card” — for reflecting a one-time password (OTP).
Continue reading… “MasterCard launches new credit card with display and keypad”
University study time will look radically different than it does today.
Because of the economic pressures on higher education, somewhere this year a university hired its last tenured professor. And because of the technological pressures on higher education, next year a university will hire its last faculty member expected to teach in a classroom.
Continue reading… “Technology won’t kill a college education but it will transform it”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu-nlQqFCKg[/youtube]
Microsoft has posted a video with a complementary explanation of language translation that goes far past what we thought was currently possible. The speaker explains and demonstrates improvements made to the machine understanding of his English words, which are automatically transcribed as he speaks. He then demonstrates having those words translated directly into Mandarin.
Continue reading… “Microsoft turns spoken English into spoken Mandarin – in the same voice”
Faster internet connections have made viewers more impatient.
Revenues are declining for the traditional forms of online advertising. Emerging as a bright spot for many media companies is the video. It offers an opportunity for long engagement and hefty ad rates — but also a challenge to make it work.
Continue reading… “Online viewers abandon video if it doesn’t play in 2 seconds: Study”
Suneet Tuli with the Aakash 2 tablet.
The 44-year-old CEO of UK/Canadian/Indian startup Datawind, Suneet Tuli, is having a taxing day. He says he is “underwater” as he struggles to find a cell signal outside a restaurant in Mumbai. On Sunday Nov. 11, the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee, will unveil the seven-inch Aakash 2 tablet computer Tuli’s company is selling to the government for distribution to 100,000 university students and professors. (If things go well, the government plans to order as many as 5.86 million.) In the meantime, Tuli is deluged with calls from reporters, and every day his company receives thousands of new orders for the commercial version of the Aakash 2. Already, he’s facing a backlog of four million unfulfilled pre-orders.
Continue reading… “Aakash 2 – The $20 tablet that could transform computing as we know it”
Pebble watch has been wildly successful.
People hoping to get their business ideas funded by peers are posting their projects on Kickstarter more and more. But that doesn’t mean their ideas are finding any more success on the crowdfunding site.
Continue reading… “How many Kickstarter projects are funded successfully: Chart”
Mobile health becoming more popular among smartphone owners.
Mobile health is starting to become popular in the U.S.. In 2010, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that just 17 percent of cell phone owners used their devices to look up health information. But the organization said that figure has climbed to 31 percent in a new study released last week.
Volkswagen’s flying car
Seeing a flying cars in a sci-fi movie is a common site. The flying car has won hearts of many science fiction fanatics. Be it the glass bubble from “The Jetsons” or the cab from “The Fifth Element,” all these vehicles have mesmerized audiences for a long now. (Video)
Continue reading… “Volkswagen’s futuristic flying car concept”
Transplanting some leafy green seedlings at the grand opening of Singapore’s first commercial vertical farm.
Singapore is taking local farming to the next level by opening of its first commercial vertical farm.
Vertical farming is like skyscrapers with vegetables climbing along the windows or like a library-sized greenhouse with racks of cascading vegetables instead of books.
Continue reading… “Singapore opens world’s first commercial vertical farm”
The term ‘human enhancement’ encompasses a range of approaches that may be used to improve aspects of human function.
The Royal Society looks at Human enhancement and the future of work. The project explored potential enhancements arising from advances in science and engineering that are likely to impact on the future of work.
Continue reading… “How human enhancement will impact the future of work”
Tomorrow’s IT department will likely look very different to today’s.
Meeting business demands to save money while supporting delivery of better products and ways of working will be key to the future of IT. The IT department is under pressure to change if it is to meet conflicting demands to support innovation while also saving cost.
Continue reading… “Four possible roles of the IT department in the future”