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Submission + - Led by Zuck, Billionaires Pony Up $100M to Fund Private Elementary Schools 1

theodp writes: AltSchool, a 2-year-old software-fueled private elementary school initiative started by an ex-Googler, announced Monday a $100 million Series B round led by established VC firms and high-profile tech investors including Mark Zuckerberg, Laurene Powell Jobs, John Doerr, and Pierre Omidyar. AltSchool uses proprietary software that provides students with a personalized playlist lesson that teachers can keep close tabs on. Currently, a few hundred students in four Bay Area classrooms use AltSchool tech. Three more California classrooms, plus one in Brooklyn, are expected to come online this fall, plus one in Brooklyn. "We believe that every child should have access to an exceptional, personalized education that enables them to be happy and successful in an ever-changing world," reads AltSchool's mission statement. For $28,750-a-year, your kid can be one of them right now. Eventually, the plan is for the billionaire-bankrolled education magic to trickle down. AltSchool's pitch to investors, according to NPR, is that one day, charter schools or even regular public schools could outsource many basic functions to its software platform.

Comment Re:Tell me I'm lyin' (Score 1) 480

I saw some of it and recognized the artists and actors, but it didn't grab my interest. If only they could have seen into the future and the Internet, they'd realize fish occupy a very small corner of the furry pantheon.

"What? No, I don't think we're going to get many viewers excited by 'Sharktara' or whatever..."

Comment Re:Tell me I'm lyin' (Score 1) 480

Ugh. Here in Portland, Oregon they showed the first ThunderCats season twice, then showed the new characters coming on board in movie form (The five-part "Thundercats Ho!" series.) Then as it was getting interesting, they suddenly switched to SilverHawks. I didn't find out about the second ThunderCats season until I was in my thirties on the Internet.

It was KPTV's move to SilverHawks that made me hate the series at the time, but I came to appreciate it. Still, I'd much rather see Mumm-Ra wreaking havok on the 'cats, heh heh. (I was happy to find they removed his reflection weakness!)

Comment The Original Lament Configuration (Score 1) 266

From Clive Barker's "The Hellbound Heart" novella: a highly-polished black cube with no discernible markings that was extremely difficult to open; the inner parts had a bright mirror finish. Hell only wants the truly obsessed, and only the most obsessed could figure how to completely disassemble it. Once the Cenobites came and had their way with the puzzle solver, the parts of the cube reassembled and the gate to hell closed again.

Comment Re:Atari 800 (Score 1) 702

The 800XL and other post-Tramiel models were very different from the classic 800. It was a tank, but the keyboard eventually died on mine. Unfortunately, those were hard to replace then and probably near-impossible to find now. At least with all the mods I did on mine (GTIA graphics chip, Omnimon, a keyboard speaker-silencing switch, and green power LEDs) I was very good at disassembly/reassembly. The shielding in there is pretty extensive, and the plastic was pretty thick too.

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