No Dough, No Go! Technology Disables Car if You Miss a Payment!

Concerned about defaults on car loans to sub-prime borrowers (people with bad credit histories), lenders now can insist that a clever computerized box be installed in your car to alert you when your payment is due. When the lights start flashing, you know your payment is coming due. On the day the payment is due, the box also beeps incessantly.

When you make your payment you receive a six digit code to punch into the box. Without the code, your car is disabled and with new options such as tying the devices into GPS systems, it is easy for the repo man to locate the vehicle and repossess it!



Companies such as Sekurus (who makes a device called On Time) sell the devices to financing companies at up to $250 per box. Why would the finance companies invest so heavily in the devices? Because defaults on high-risk loans are cut from 30% to 5% when devices such as On Time are installed in the vehicle and the devices can drastically cut the time and expense of repossession.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) How would you feel about having a device such as On Time installed in your car? What if it was the only way you could obtain a car loan for a vehicle you needed to commute to work?
2) Do you think it is ethical for a company to disable a car when a customer misses a payment? Should there be extenuating circumstances that would prevent the car from being disabled or repossessed?
3) If a GPS tracking device was installed in your vehicle, what potential ethical issues could arise from people (your parents, the police, your employer, the loan company) examining the data gathered by the GPS? Does this change how you feel about having a GPS device installed in your car?

Green Maven - Find Green Websites Quickly

Although specialized search engines abound on the Web, Green Maven is the first engine specifically tailored to generate search results only from "green" Web sites. Aside from searches of green sites, Green Maven also offers a Green News Reader which pulls postings from green blogs and other green news sources. Finally, if you don't want to use the search engine, the Green Maven Directory is set up in categories so you can easily browse (by topic) the sites indexed in their search engine.

So next time you are looking for that perfect computer recycling site or a source for compost supplies, head over to Green Maven.

Shop Amazon with Text Messages

Gee, what took them so long? A new service called TextBuyIt provides Amazon customers with the ability to purchase items through text messaging on their cell phones. By sending the product name, UPC code, or ISBN number to 262966 (which is Amazon on your keypad) Amazon will send back a message allowing you to purchase the product if they stock it. You need an existing Amazon account (which is free) to take advantage of this service. Check out the details on Amazon's TextBuyIT page.

This could easily stimulate sales for Amazon. If you are shopping at an electronics store and see a camera that you like you could easily check to see if Amazon carries it at a lower price.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) Would you use the Amazon TextBuyIt service? Do you think this is an easier way to shop than going to Amazon's web site?
2) Have you ever bought anything using your cell phone? Was it a good or bad experience? Would you buy this way again?
3) What other companies should consider offering items or services for sale by text messaging? Explain how you think this would stimulate sales.

New Optical Data Transfer Record

IBM has achieved 300 Gbps throughput using a new fiber optic chip called the "Optichip". The new chips also operate at 1/10 the power requirement of existing chips. They achieved the transfer speed by using a shorter wavelength of laser generated light. IBM is touting the chips as the answer to developing peta-flop and exa-flop supercomputers. See the full article here.

Windows Server 2008 Robot

Microsoft is billing Windows Server 2008 as "The Server Unleashed" and has created a cool Web site featuring a nice CGI robot. When you click on the different features of the OS, the robot takes slightly different poses. Aside from being amused by the robot, you can also download a trial copy of the software to evaluate it. And don't forget to grab some images for your Windows wallpaper from the Toy Box like the one below!

Recycling Technology - Dispose of Broken Computing Devices Responsibly

Here's a catchy little tune called the Dead iPod song. It describes what to do with your iPod when it inevitably dies.



Many companies now have recycling programs. Apple has an iPod and cell phone recycling program which provides you with a free (they pay the postage) way to send in your broken iPods and cell phones for environmentally responsible disposal. Dell's recycling program always provides free recycling for Dell branded products. And if you buy a new Dell system and select free recycling at the time of purchase, Dell will even recycle your old computer and monitor for free even if it isn't a Dell product.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) Do you have any broken computing devices at home? How are you planning on disposing of them?
2) Have you ever thrown an old computing device in the regular trash? What impact do you think this had on the environment?
3) HANDS-ON ACTIVITY: Search the Web for technology recycling programs in your area that accept old computers and monitors. Are there limitations on what types of devices they accept? Is there a charge to the consumer for recycling?

Bluetooth Security Problems and Solutions

As most of our students have cell phones, many of them also have Bluetooth devices such as wireless headsets. However, most people don’t realize that Bluetooth transmissions are not a secure technology. In this video, Joshua Wright (an instructor at the SANS Institute) shows us how easy it is to listen in on a Bluetooth device and even inject your own audio into the device you’ve compromised.



Although requiring technical skills beyond the casual computer user (as it involves using Linux and other seemingly arcane protocols), a computer science student would probably have no trouble in replicating these actions. In fact there are many web sites that list Bluetooth hacking tools with links to download them. Fortunately there are simple ways to protect yourself from Bluetooth snooping and one of the best resources for Bluetooth protection is on the Bluetooth site itself. Following these guidelines should help your students (and you!) stay more secure when using Bluetooth enabled devices.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) What types of Bluetooth devices do you use on a regular basis? Have you configured them (after pairing them with your devices) into a non-discoverable state so that other Bluetooth devices can’t find them?
2) Have you updated the firmware (for that matter, what is firmware?) in your Bluetooth devices lately? Do you know how to do this? Do you know why it is important to do this?
3) Do you have antivirus software installed on your phone or PDA? Do you keep it updated on a regular basis?

Using Wikis in the Classroom

Before you can launch students on a group project involving wikis, you obviously need to explain what wikis are and their basic functionality. Students can get a quick grasp of the basics of wikis by watching this video:



And, a good article from Information Week explains How to Use Wikis for Business. If you have students watch the video and read this article before class, you can get them up to speed on the idea of wikis pretty quickly.

Naturally, the students will need a free wiki site to use for any wiki project you assign. Two of my favorites are wikispaces and pbwiki. They are both very straight forward and easy to use.

Wikis are obviously great for group projects because of their collaborative aspects. Here are a few approaches you could take:

1) Student Study Guide - Have the students create and edit pages that provide a study guide for each chapter (or topic) you cover in class. This requires explaining concepts in their own words which reinforces learning. And this type of wiki can act as a repository of knowledge that next semester's students could update and expand.
2) Wiki moderator - Have a student create and moderate a page (that other students update) for a week. The page should cover one topic from the current course content and aim to provide a comprehensive summary of the topic.
3) Battling Business Units (with apologies to Dilbert) - Have competing groups create wiki pages on the same topic. Then assign one group each week to review all the pages on that topic and combine them into one comprehensive (definitive?) resource.

And if you need some inspiration for projects or additional insight for students, check out the wiki resources below.

42 Ways to Use Wikis
Want to get started but need some inspiration?

Using Wikis with K-12 Students - Works for college students too!

Using Wiki in Education - A wiki book that provides ideas for higher ed uses of wikis. Requires log-in but access is free.

Weblogg-ed Presentation Links - Even more info on wikis.

Download Video From YouTube

Nothing is worse than having a great video from YouTube identified to start a class discussion and then finding out your network connection is down. You can avoid this unpleasant experience by installing a free product called YouTube Downloader from Biennesoft.

This freeware (no cost to use it) enables the downloading of videos from YouTube (and other sites) and saving them to FLV (Flash video) files. Now FLV files are bloody useless since it is difficult to find players to play them back. But fortunately the program allows you to convert the FLV files to more useful formats for display on devices such as iPods, iPhones, PSPs, Cell Phones, and Windows Media Player. You can even just export the sound to an MP3 file.

The software is dead simple to use. Just paste in the URL of the video and click OK to save it as an FLV file.



To covert to another format, browse to where the FLV file was stored and select it. Then choose the appropriate conversion format and click OK to convert. It couldn't be easier!



By downloading the video and converting it into an appropriate format you won't have to worry about losing your Internet connection. This also makes it handy for distributing the file via e-mail or in a course management system.

Web 2.0 Parody Video

Here's an amusing send up of Web 2.0 called Here Comes Another Bubble. It can be used to start a discussion of Web 2.0 in your classroom. WARNING: The darn song might run through your head all day!



Discussion Questions for Students:
1) What is Web 2.0? What are the key attributes of Web 2.0 applications?
2) Which of these Web applications do you use on a regular basis? Social networks (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) wikis (wikispaces, pbwiki, Google Docs), blogs, social bookmarking (digg, del.icio.us). Which sites are most useful to you and why?
3) What types of activities can't you do in the applications you are using now that you would do if the functionality were available? (This usually produces lively discussion as students say, "Hey, you can do this on blahblahblah.com!")

Building How-To Videos - For Free!

One of the best ways to learn a subject or to demonstrate mastery of a topic is to teach it to someone else. So why not assign student projects that require making videos that explain the functionality of Microsoft Office, a Web site or another application software package. And then the students can deploy the videos they create on YouTube and share their knowledge with the entire world. Now that is Web 2.0 learning in action! But since many colleges don't have a tool deployed for the students to use, a free tool for recording on-screen activity is needed.

Fortunately, CamStudio is an open source software package that is based on the widely popular (and expensive) Camtasia Studio product from Techsmith. The software is easy to install and learn to use. They even provide a handy video on downloading CamStudio. The help files in the product will get you familiar with how to use it. The recorder has simple basic functionality similar to older versions of Camtasia Studio.



This is not as fully-functional as the current version of Camtasia Studio, but the basic functionality is similar. For pure ease of use, Camtasia Studio 5 does offer significant advantages, but saving the students $299 is a big bonus for CamStudio. So have the students download CamStudio and get them creating their first videos this week!

Increase Your Blog or Web Site Functionality with Mashups

Web 2.0 is all about functionality and user input. There certainly is plenty of data available on the Web, but sometimes it isn't exactly in the format you desire. This is why mashups were born. A mashup draws data (or functionality) from two (or more) different sources and deploys them within a single tool. An example would be drawing location pictures from Google Earth and adding them to house listings from a real estate agency. Lots of mashups are created using Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) methodology.

But for mere mortals, like your computer literacy students, Microsoft has provided a site which allows the easy creation of mashups with drag and drop functionality. Popfly is a cool site which you can access for free using a Microsoft Live ID (also available for free). Once you are there, there is a handy tutorial which will have you making your first mashup, which you can then deploy on a blog, social networking site or Web page, in just minutes. But to make things even easier, just watch the video below which shows you how to make a photo carousel mashup and include it on a blog.



So turn your students loose on Popfly and see what they can create. If you are using blogs in your classes (see the Blogging Across the Curriculum blog) or have students creating their own social network on Ning, require them to make a mashup and include it on their site. You may be surprised at what they design!

Carry an Operating System in Your Pocket

With large capacity flash drives, we have almost reached the point where we could carry our Windows environment with us in our pocket and have access to our familiar desktop and settings wherever there is a public computer. But we really aren't there quite yet.

A practical solution available now is taking Linux with you on a flash drive. Linux isn't geeky and scary any longer. The interfaces for many Linux builds, like Ubuntu shown below, look almost exactly like Windows.



The advantages of using your own Linux OS on a public computer are:

1) Reduce the risk of picking up viruses and malware from a public computer - When you boot a public computer from a flash drive you completely eliminate any interaction with the public computer's operating system. This significantly reduces the chances that your flash drive will become infected by any malware running infecting the public computer.
2) Linux isn't as prone to attack - Since Windows has a 91% market share, people who write malware tend to target Windows systems. By running Linux on a public computer, you are much less likely to be the target of an attack or infection.
3) Enhanced privacy - When you run off your own storage medium (flash drive), you avoid reading and writing to the hard disk of the public computer. Therefore, you don't leave traces of your activity behind.
4) Ease of use - Instead of dealing with a different configuration on each public computer you use, you have access to an operating system with which you are familiar.

Sometimes you can't find a public computer that lets you boot from a USB drive. You can also take a CD with you that contains a Linux OS which should help avoid this issue.

You still need some virus protection but fortunately you can get free antivirus programs that run in a Linux environment such as avast! Linux Home Edition. If you buy a flash drive with a switch that allows you to make it a read-only device, this will also increase your level of protection.

There are many distros (different variations of Linux) that you can choose from to load onto your flash drive. An excellent resource is Pendrivelinux which has many distros available for download and step-by-step instructions on how to install them to your flash drive. Personally, I like Ubuntu and Knoppix as they both include OpenOffice (which is just like using MS Office 2003) and the Firefox browser. But download a couple different distros and see which one you prefer.

And if you are a Mac user, there is an option for you too! gOS is a distro that provides a very close approximation of OS X so you too can feel right at home.

Save Your Students $850 Million!

AOL announced today that it was buying social network Bebo for $850 million in cash. A staggering price considering that Bebo has quite a few less users than MySpace or Facebook. However, they do have a lot more users in other countries such as the UK and New Zealand. Given AOLs other woes, it does seem like a bit of an odd direction to take.

Even though your students probably don't have a spare $850 million lying around, that doesn't mean they can't get in on the social networking action. Just send them over to Ning which is a site where they can create their very own personal social network...for free!

A five minute sign up process is all it takes to be off and running with your own network. You can invite members, post content and control the look and feel of your social network's home page. You can choose to have the network viewable by anyone or keep it restricted to members only. You choose the URL for your network which will end in ning.com and therefore would look something like this: mycoolnetwork.ning.com. You can host blogs, threaded message forums and several other features. The learning curve is very low as it has a similar look and feel to established social networks.

So how does Ning make money? The network you set up has rather unobtrusive Google Adsense ads on the side of the page which generate revenue for Ning. But if you want to control the ad content on your site and keep the revenue for yourself, all you need to do is pay Ning $10 per month and you can remove all of their ads and put up your own.

I think that setting up a social network would make a great group project for a computer literacy or business class. Groups could compete to sign up the most members, have the largest number of relevant blog postings, generate the most useful message threads, etc. So send your students out there to play around and see what happens.

Sources of Videos Other Than YouTube

Can't find what you are looking for on YouTube? There are certainly plenty of other sources of free video on the Internet. Here are a few of my favorite sites:

Google Video - You would think since Google bought YouTube they would have combined the two sites by now (or at least made the functionality the same). But you would be wrong! Google Video, still technically in beta, hosts videos in a similar fashion to YouTube. But the real strength of this site is the search feature. As you can see from the image below, the search box default option is to search the entire web for videos, not just ones hosted on the Google Video site. Therefore, this is a superior search feature to the one offered on YouTube which only searches videos hosted on the YouTube site.



Lab Rats - Two technology journalists, Andy Walker and Sean Carruthers, started making video podcasts in October 2005. Fortunately for us, people loved them and now the Lab Rats website contains over 100 video podcasts on technology. These videos are well written, produced professionally and contain useful information on topics ranging from Web browser security to iPod hacking. There is something here for every level of student.

5 min - 5min is a site that offers short video solutions (all 5 minutes or less) to practical questions. Their idea, as explained on their site, is simple: "...any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes. Our goal is to create the first communal Life Videopedia allowing users from all over the globe to contribute their knowledge by sharing visual guides in areas such as arts, business, fashion, sports, health, tech, food, and much more." They have a technology section which contains some very informative videos such as Wikis in Plain English and How to Retrieve a Lost Windows Password. While not as extensive a collection as YouTube, the videos at 5min are very high quality and well produced videos.

If you know of any other sites that provide useful technology videos (for free, of course), mention them in a comment to this post and I'll add them to this list.

A Vision of Students Today

This video gem is from the Cultural Anthropology Faculty at Kansas State University who have brought us so many other clever videos over the past couple of years. They asked their students to work on a shared document (sort of a wiki) and to comment on what was going on in with each of them when they were in the classroom. They filmed the results and displayed them in a thought provoking way (students holding up signs). The students' comments probably reflect many of the issues your students are facing.

Even though this video is designed more for faculty than for students, I still find it beneficial to show to my students. It gets them thinking and often sparks a good discussion about what they want to get out of my class. Often showing this video will spark student interest in using Wikis. Two free sites where students can set up Wikis are wikispaces and pbwiki.



Discussion Questions for Students:
1) Which issues from the video are you facing in your classes? What solutions would you propose to the students in the video to address their concerns?
2) Have you ever used a Wiki or Google documents to share information with a group or plan a project? Have you ever used these tools in classes at this institution?
3) Do you think you would find Wikis useful in your classwork? What about in your personal life?

How Not to Use PowerPoint

This is a humorous look at things you shouldn't do when you are creating PowerPoint slides to support a presentation. Even though it is funny, the video makes a lot of valid points that are worth pointing out to students.

The Mom Song (William Tell Overture)

This is a good video to play for 8am classes while you are waiting for class to start. The William Tell Overture is very difficult to sleep through, IM through, etc. And Generation Y students can usually relate to this video as the comedienne does remind them of their mom!

Fun With Hard Drives

Hard drives need to remain hermetically sealed otherwise they tend to stop functioning. But have you ever wondered what a hard drive looks like on the inside while it is running? Thanks to someone sacrificing a hard drive (they won't be able to use it again), now you can see what really happens.



And if you've never defragmented a hard drive, this is what it looks like in time lapse mode.

Would You Like a Little Cholesterol Medication with That Pizza?

Many people are concerned that technology and the Internet are eroding our personal privacy. The video below is the ACLU's slant on what it might be like to order a pizza in the near future. Fasten your seat belts...its going to be a bumpy ride!



Now we all hope that this level of scrutiny doesn't happen but my local pizza parlor already tracks orders by phone number. So when I call they usually have a pretty good guess about what I'm going to order. At least they don't have access to my medical records, library records and magazine subscription information...yet. But with all this information in databases, it is theoretically possible to consolidate it all at the pizza parlor.

Fortunately, the privacy of medical records is protected by law. But say the local pizza parlor did run a coupon in Men's Health magazine. They could buy the list of local subscribers from the magazine and integrate it into their database that is keyed off of caller ID. Then they would be able to mention the coupon to callers who subscribed to Men's Health. It presents interesting possibilities.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) What types of personal information would you feel comfortable with a merchant (like a pizza parlor) having about you? What types of information would you never want revealed to retailers?
2) What is your position on a national ID card (or the REAL ID)? Is preventing terrorism worth giving up some personal privacy rights?
3) Should personal medical information be more readily available if it could be used to protect your health? Would you feel comfortable with a server at a restaurant recommending healthy food choices based on your medical history?