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Submission + - Bill Gates Needs an Online Education History Lesson

theodp writes: "We're not fond of Bill Gates," wrote Philip Greenspun in 1999, "but it still hurts to see Microsoft struggle with problems that IBM solved in the 1960s." And, after reading the 2015 Gates Annual Letter, one worries that BillG might be struggling with online education problems that PLATO and other computer assisted instruction systems solved in the '60s and '70s. One of the five breakthroughs Bill and Melinda foresee in the next 15 years is that Better Software Will Revolutionize Learning, but the accompanying narrative suggests that Bill still doesn't know much about TechEd history. "Think back 15 years," the Gates write, "to when online education was first gaining traction. It amounted to little more than pointing a camera at a university lecturer and hitting the 'record' button. Students couldn't take online quizzes or connect with each other. It wasn't interactive at all." Think again, Bill. Check out A 1980 Teenager's View on Social Media, Brian Dear's ode to his experience with PLATO. Or ask ex-Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie to share his experiences with PLATO in the '70s, a decade that saw PLATO teaching reading to young children and computer science to college students like your then 18-year-old self. And while cheap microcomputers eventually killed the expensive PLATO CDC mainframe star, there are some lessons today's MOOCs could learn from studying their PLATO History, like providing easy-to-learn-and-use authoring software to allow courseware to be built by classroom instructors (pdf), not just Gates Foundation and Google-funded engineers. Keep on keepin' on Bill, but make sure your MOOC Research includes some history lessons!

Submission + - How a Founder of Modern Biology Got Suckered by Flat-Earthers (scientificamerican.com) 1

Layzej writes: In January of 1870, John Hampden proposed a wager that challenged "all the philosophers, divines and scientific professors in the United Kingdom to prove the rotundity and revolution of the world from Scripture, from reason, or from fact. He will acknowledge that he has forfeited his deposit, if his opponent can exhibit, to the satisfaction of any intelligent referee, a convex railway, river, canal, or lake."

To Alfred Russel Wallace this sounded like easy money. Poor Wallace thought that Hampden only needed to be shown some proof in order to accept the plain fact that the earth is round. He knew nothing of Hampden and his ilk, or he may never have accepted the wager. But in addition to wanting to win a cool £500, he believed “that a practical demonstration would be more convincing than the ridicule with which such views are usually met.” He was about to find out that practical demonstrations have absolutely no effect on these truest of true believers.

Scientific American describes the events that followed. In the end Wallace and his family were subjected to death threats, and the wager cost him several hundred pounds and no end of trouble.

Submission + - Eric Schmidt says the Internet will Disappear 2

Esra Erimez writes: Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted the end of the Internet as we know it. Schmidt says, “There will be so many IP addressesso many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with that you won’t even sense it. “It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic. And with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room.”

Comment Re:Coal-powered car (Score 1) 426

At the risk of replying to what seems like a troll post:

* Coal burned in a power plant is far cleaner than gasoline burned in a combustion engine for the equivalent energy produced.
* Many 'green' electric car owners also go the route of installing solar at their homes, recharging their vehicles for free and 'off the grid' in their own garages.
* There's also an initiative to increase charging stations charge-via-solar, ultimately making those stations also essentially emission free.

Comment Re:Cost? (Score 1) 426

The definitive factors of the quality or cost of a vehicle aren't fuel method and range. I would just hazard a guess at the other components used in a 'Bolt', and features, when compared to a Tesla S, as being far inferior in many ways. That's ignoring the fact that the Tesla batteries double that range claim, anyways..even the smallest battery far outdoes it (except when driven @ 85mph).

"Bolt" is far behind. 2 years away is *far* behind, I'd be shocked and chagrinned if the Bolt had any impact on the automotive market whatsoever.

Comment Is this a good thing? (Score 1) 138

The more companies try to cram under the umbrella of DMCA, I feel, the more opposition to the DMCA notices will crop up. This may end up being a good thing. Sure, cram it all under DMCA - start spamming everyone you can with accusations not befitting of copyright violation, and it'll only water down the 'authentic' violation notices - perhaps authorities will throw the baby out with the bathwater when evaluating DMCA complaints.

Comment Disingenuous at best. (Score 1) 153

There is no political currency in asking for your 'cyber-enemy' to cooperate in investigating an attack by a country whose biggest ally is said cyber-enemy. It's a worthless news-bit at best, and opening a door for problems at worst...imagine, US who accuses China of so many cyber attacks, now saying to China "can you help us investigate the SPE attack" (a Japanese company, 'China's sworn enemy'). The whole thing is turning into a fucking clown-shoes filled dance party.

Comment Re:I doubt it was North Korea (Score 1) 236

My biggest beef with the assumptions here is that some earlier reports mentioned that the breach has been in effect for a long time. Sony hasn't disclosed exactly how long - but if they have been breached and information has been siphoned out of their company for a long time, then I highly doubt it has any correlation to 'The Interview' whatsoever, which kind of kills the whole "it was North Korea!" finger pointing based on the fact this movie was coming out at about the same time the group responsible for the hacks begins leaking information.

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