Tech Blog: Gate's Web Education

In an article from TechCrunch, Bill Gates is to have said that in a matter of years education will be mostly web-based. Web-based, as in online, as in no one has to GO anywhere to get an education. Good news for me as an elementary educator, he also said that "ducational institutions are still vital for children, K-12". However, for college students, apparently, hearing a lecture online is as beneficial as being in a classroom.

I strongly disagree.

I'm sure I've talked about learning types on here before, so I won't go into great detail, but sitting at a computer listening to a lecture could be the very worst way for most students to learn. And even if it did work for some students, it would be so boring! While going to class isn't always ideal, seeing a lecture live and being able to interact with that lecturer enhances the educational process and is much more exciting.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/06/bill-gates-education/

Tech Blog: Royal Wedding

With the wedding of Prince William and Kate nearing, look to the web for full access to the event. The wedding will be broadcasted on YouTube and pictures will be available on flickr as well. An article from the guardian.co.uk says "as well as being broadcast live online royal officials will manage a live multimedia blog and augment coverage on a dedicated twitter feed, @ClarenceHouse".

This is a step up from the last royal wedding, because the whole world will be seeing it live with in depth details, or not, depending on what people tune into to. According to the article, those watching the broadcast on YouTube will be watching without the BBC commentators that other live viewers will see.

I find it interesting that the palace staff is in charge of updating the twitter feed and posting on flickr. They will be incorporating "historical information and interesting links" within their tweets to feed the royal-wedding-hungry public around the world.

Tech Blog: Meal Snap

iPhone just released an app that is supposed to give consumers a rough estimate of the number of calories they are getting ready to eat by taking a picture of their meal. For calorie crunchers, it sounds too good to be true, and in my opinion, it is. The app replies with an estimate of how many calories is in the meal based only on what the picture shows. And the calorie counts are ridiculous... the article talks about a handful of cashews having anywhere from 150-614 calories. The author of the article says that for him, having SOME idea of what goes into his body is good enough, but for anyone seriously watching their weight or counting calories, a difference of 500 is a pretty big deal. I would be interested in seeing how it calculates a whole meal if a small snack comes back with such variation! Until Meal Snap figures out how to calculate meals more effectively, I'd say serious dieters should stick to Weight Watchers. Instead of using technology, Weight Watchers actually analyzes the food you eat using protein, fat, carbs and fiber and rates it on a point system. If you use their online tool or attend meetings, you're given a point target and that tells you how many points you should be eating a day. It if a much more realistic way of tracking what goes into your mouth.