The K-12 Open Source Classroom

Bringing Open Source (Free and Free) into the Classroom

Archive for category open source

The Cure

Sep 7

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Robert Smith

The Cure's Robert Smith

Definitely Copyright/Fair Use/Creative Commons week on the K-12OSC blog!  Which I enjoy, as a topic, because the education field does not give enough attention to this important topic.

Recently, I discovered the blog of rock group The Cure.  I always followed them, but never really went to their site.  I am not one of those stalker band folks, so except for the Smashing Pumpkins, I did not visit sites much.  I did visit The Cure’s recently to look for upcoming concerts.  I would love to attend one of their shows.  No upcoming concerts, but I did discover a pretty good, regularly updated blog by front man Robert Smith.  One of the first entries was a notice to folks about his views on free and cheap music.  As usual with the media, it appears some of his comments were misinterpreted.  Recently, the band Radiohead, put out a gimmick when they released a cd for ‘whatever you wanted to pay for it.’  Yes, Radiohead is out there trying to understand this new media landscape, but I think Smith hit the nail on the head–a gimmick.  Because of that, all his words were misinterpreted to suggest he thought all music should be proprietary.

Even with my strong Creative Commons/Copyleft views, I agree with Smith.  No one should put out all their music free.  Sometimes I think that works, like the Pumpkins recently releasing a few songs on their latest album free (http://www.k12opensourceclassroom.org/?p=410).  In their case, they entice you to buy the whole collection with these freebies in hand.  Obviously, music would disintegrate if all music had to be released free.  Again, like in Boyle’s The Public Domain, we on this side do not want to abolish Copyright.  We just do not want it abused with things like DRM.  If I buy a cd or mp3, let me put it on as many of my machines, cds, etc as I want, as long as I stay within the tenants of Copyright.

So this definitely makes me even more of a Smith and Cure fan.  I will be interested to read future blogs…

http://www.thecure.com/blog/Default.aspx?pg=2

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Image used under Creative Commons (of course!) license by Wikimedia user Jeffcampion

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Smith_of_The_Cure_live_in_Singapore_1_August_2007.jpg

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K-12 Online Conference

Sep 5

Posted by admin in OSS Applications, Professional Development, open source | 1 Comment

K-12 Online

K-12 Online Conference--Free!

With school in session, conference season will start ramping up again as well.  With the economy, fewer people attend conferences, but they still need the expertise and ideas they would find at a conference.  Right here is where the K-12 Online Conference (http://k12onlineconference.org/) can help.  We reviewed this conference last year (http://www.k12opensourceclassroom.org/?p=117), but basically, people from around the country and world get together for a few weeks to provide asynchronous and synchronous sessions on a variety of technology items.

The greatest thing about the conference is that EVERYONE in the field participates.  From hands-on to keynotes, everyone comes, and you can learn a lot!   Lots of sessions on all the buzz items, such as Moodle, Mahara, and other course/content management systems, open source apps, and I am guessing this year we’ll see more with Apple and Android apps. You can even earn CEUs, if needed, although check that out ahead of time.  Visit the conference and share with your friends!

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Google App Inventor

Sep 3

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Google App Inventor

My Invite To Create Apps Came!

I recently received my invite to Google’s App Inventor.  Obviously, with all the new Google tools, this one is on a limited entry, so I was pretty surprised to see my invite in my inbox.  Why did I want it?  I want to create apps, of course.  I do not yet possess any great ideas, but I wanted to see the tool and hopefully that would get my creative juices flowing.  I really would like to find some creative uses for K-12.

Of course I also use this to highlight the differences between Apple and Google.  Google provides this free.  At least at first, and I think still, you need to pay $100 or more to Apple for the same privilege.  I can see that for a commercial developer, but what if we want students to create apps?  I can see eventually a course in high school, or even online, to show students how to create apps.  I doubt we will spend thousands of dollars on the Apple side, so it would be Android.  Why does Apple not see that?

Anyway, I will explore this over the next few weeks and report as necessary.  Apps away!

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Oracle’s Axis of Evil

Aug 30

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Do you remember this clip from Saturday Night Live from a few years back?  Will Ferrell, as George W. Bush, listing his ‘Axis of Evil.’ Hilarious stuff, as pretty much everything (Evil Knievel even) joined his Axis.  Well now, not to many people’s surprise, Oracle joined the OSS world’s Axis of Evil.  For years we had Microsoft and Apple, but lately, Microsoft seems to be the OSS darling, Apple still is evil, but just harmless, and Oracle trumps them all.  What happened, and why should educators worry?  Well, database company Oracle, which is quite popular, but loathed, recently purchased Sun Microsystems.  Sun developed many products, including the popular Java programming language, Open Office, the popular and free office suite, Virtual Box, the free virtual machine software we reviewed here: http://www.k12opensourceclassroom.org/?p=114, and other open source projects.

When Oracle made the purchase, we all began to sweat.  Now that they made it, we are starting to see their intentions.  They filed patent infringement suits right away against Google for infringement of Java on Android.  They splashed their name all over VirtualBox and Open Office, and we hear rumors that they want to take some of these products closed source.  Make a buck, make a buck.  What will probably ultimately happen in many cases, is the projects forking.  Oracle keeping theirs, and a continued OSS version.  That will be fine, but we will lose the expertise of the Sun/Oracle developers.  You really cannot majorly fault Oracle (although we will), as they do just what a business should.  When you get to it, all businesses work to make money.  Some in just different ways.  This acquisition, though, will really stifle creativity, and the looming battle of Android could ultimately change the number one mobile OS.  Just as I get my Evo.  Time will tell, but we will watch this battle closely…

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Must Have Android Apps

Aug 19

Posted by admin in OSS Applications, hardware, open source | No Comments

So, a week into my Evo.  I continue to be just as impressed as my first impression.  This phone, and Android in general, just so get my way of consumption.  The camera is amazing (8 mp)–I can actually just point, it zooms/focuses, and I take really decent pics.  The apps it comes with work, along with HTC’s Sense UI…some nice and easy add to widgets.

I have been downloading apps like mad.  Trying ones, deleting others, just trying to get a sense of what you can find out there.  Here are my favorites so far:

TasKiller–an OS that supports multiple apps running at the same time is a great idea.  However, if you never close ones, it can slow down your phone pretty quickly.  I went ahead and downloaded TasKiller for both phones.  It makes it easy to see what’s running in the background and quickly in one step kill the process.

Google Maps Navigation.  While in Beta, I think I like this better than Sprint’s Navigation.  It looks most like the traditional Garmin GPS interfaces, finds directions quicker, and has the backend of Google information to pull from when planning routes, looking for restaurants, etc.

and for a little fun…

Super K.O. Boxing

Old Skool Gamin' on the Evo

Super K.O. Boxing.  Remember Mike Tyson’s punch out?  While Super K.O. provides you with a similar game.  Lots of fun punching on folks…great work stress reliever…

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