Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - FOSS School Management to Augment Education (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Kagetsuki
Kagetsuki writes: Standardized education teaches a limited curriculum without accounting for anything students achieve outside of that curriculum. GAKU Engine is an open source school management system that sets out to change that. It lets schools manage their standard curriculum, yet augments it by tracking extracurricular accomplishments and integrating with external educational services.

Submission + - Can Cyborg Tech End Human Disability by 2064? (ieee.org)

Submitted by the_newsbeagle
the_newsbeagle writes: As part of a 50th anniversary celebration, IEEE Spectrum magazine tries to peer into the technological future 50 years out. Its biomedical article foresees the integration of electronic parts into our human bodies, making up for physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities.

The article spotlights the visionaries Hugh Herr, an MIT professor (and double amputee) who wants to build prosthetic limbs that are wired directly into the nervous system; Helen Mayberg, who has developed brain pacemakers to cure depression; and Ted Berger, who's working on neural implants that can restore memory function.

Submission + - IKEA to Launch Electric Bicycle (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: IKEA just announced plans to launch a new electric bike called the Folkvänlig in Austria. The e-bike tops out at 45 mph and it features six different driving modes. There's no word yet as to whether assembly will be required.

Submission + - FOSS School Management to Augment Education (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Kagetsuki
Kagetsuki writes: Remember that bad grade you got in that class that one time? If your school had been using GAKU Engine you could have picked up some badges from Code School, or learned to solder at a Maker fair, or gotten a red belt in Karate to put on your grade report and balance it out.

Nearly every school in the world uses a School Management System. Often these are inflexible and proprietary closed source solutions which can cost over $100k a year. GAKU Engine [meaning “Learning Engine” in Japanese] is a full featured, customizable and extendable FOSS School Management system. But the objective of GAKU Engine isn’t just to replace closed source solutions, it aims to let schools break free of sticking to a standardized education and give students credit for all the skills and knowledge they acquire outside of school. Schools can also enhance their educational offerings with external content and services. They can augment student records with badges, achievements, and licenses. Plus there’s an extension system and an API so new functionality can be added and other systems can be integrated.

Submission + - Engineers Build World's Smallest, Fastest Nanomotor (scientificcomputing.com)

Submitted by Scientific Computing
Scientific Computing writes: Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have built the smallest, fastest and longest-running tiny synthetic motor to date. The team’s nanomotor is an important step toward developing miniature machines that could one day move through the body to administer insulin for diabetics when needed, or target and treat cancer cells without harming good cells.

Submission + - Software bug disrupts e-vote count in Belgian election (itworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A bug in an e-voting application halted the release of European, federal and regional election results in Belgium, the country's interior ministry said.

On Sunday, problems occurred when counting votes made on older voting machines in around 20 of the country's 209 cantons, the ministry said.

The voting machines in question are x86 PCs from the DOS era, with two serial ports, a parallel port, a paltry 1 megabyte of RAM and a 3.5-inch disk drive used to load the voting software from a bootable DOS disk.

Submission + - Is your textbook studying you? (ruwenzori.net)

Submitted by drkim
drkim writes: Shades of "Snow Crash"?

A number of schools have started using a program called CourseSmart, which uses e-book analytics to alert teachers if their students are studying the night before tests, rather than taking a long-haul approach to learning.

In addition to test scores, the CourseSmart algorithm assigns each student an “engagement index” which can determine not just if a student is studying, but also if they’re studying properly.

(BTW: We are holding a 'In Soviet Russia....' reference contest on this one, too.)

Submission + - torrentz.eu domain name suspended (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by S37Rigor Mortis
S37Rigor Mortis writes: Torrentz.eu, the largest torrent search engine on the Internet, has had its domain name suspended following a request from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit in the UK. The site continues to operate under two alternative domains, and is hoping to move the .eu domain to a new registrar.

Submission + - FOSS School Management to Augment Education (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Kagetsuki
Kagetsuki writes: Many schools pay over $100k a year on proprietary, inflexible, closed source School Management Systems. Some systems come bundled with full curriculum packages or integrated learning systems which cost schools millions in tablet computers and student licenses. Schools need a full featured, standards compliant system that is flexible, extendable, free of vendor lock-in, can be integrated with any curriculum or integrating learning system, and is free to use without a license.

GAKU Engine [meaning “Learning Engine” in Japanese] is a full featured, customizable and extendable Free Open Source School Management system. But the objective of GAKU Engine isn’t just to to run a standardized education; it aims to let schools break free of the standard by enhancing their educational offerings with external content and services, and augment student records with badges and achievements. With your help the base system could be completed and running in schools within the year.

Submission + - B-52 gets first full IT upgrade since '60s

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The US Air Force’s 10th Flight Test Squadron recently took delivery of the first B-52H Stratofortress to complete a refit through the Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) program. It's an effort to bring the Cold War era heavy bomber into the 21st century way of warfare—or at least up to the 1990s, technology-wise. While the aircraft received piecemeal upgrades over the past 50 years of flying, CONECT is the first major information technology overhaul for the Air Force’s B-52H fleet since the airplanes started entering service in 1961.

Submission + - Report: Apple to unveil 'smart home' system

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to a reports Apple will be unveiling a new smart home system at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. The system will allow users to control security systems, appliances and lighting with their iPhones. A "select number" of device makers will be certified to offer products that work with Apple's upcoming system, according to the report, which didn't name any of the manufacturers.

Submission + - Organic Cat Litter Chief Suspect In Nuclear Waste Accident (npr.org)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "In February, a 55-gallon drum of radioactive waste burst open inside America's only nuclear dump, in New Mexico.

Now investigators believe the cause may have been a pet store purchase gone bad.

"It was the wrong kitty litter," says , a geochemist in Richland, Wash., who has spent decades in the nuclear waste business.

It turns out there's more to cat litter than you think. It can soak up urine, but it's just as good at absorbing radioactive material.

"It actually works well both in the home litter box as well as the radiochemistry laboratory," says Conca, who is not directly involved in the current investigation.

Cat litter has been used for years to dispose of nuclear waste. Dump it into a drum of sludge and it will stabilize volatile radioactive chemicals. The litter prevents it from reacting with the environment.

And this is what contractors at were doing as they packed Cold War-era waste for shipment to the dump. But at some point, they decided to make a switch, from clay to organic.

"Now that might sound nice, you're trying to be green and all that, but the organic kitty litters are organic," says Conca. Organic litter is made of plant material, which is full of chemical compounds that can react with the nuclear waste.

"They actually are just fuel, and so they're the wrong thing to add," he says. Investigators now believe the litter and waste caused the drum to slowly heat up "sort of like a slow burn charcoal briquette instead of an actual bomb."

After it arrived at the dump, it burst."

Submission + - Kleargear.com found in Europe, will fight default judgement

Submitted by portforward
portforward writes: Remember Kleargear.com, that company who bills unhappy customers $3,500 for publicly expressing they are unhappy? Kleargear.com claimed they were owed a substantial amount of money after a couple posted their negative experience on RipoffReport.com and then attempted to collect, severly damaging the the family's credit rating. The unlucky couple sued, and got a default judgement against Kleargear in part because no one could actually find the owners of the company. Apparently now the owners have surfaced in Paris — vowing to fight and saying:

"Our sales contract is enforceable under the laws of the United States because business transactions are exempt from First Amendment rights ... If a customer disagrees with any merchant of policies, they are free to shop elsewhere."

Especially, of course, when the company adds conditions to the bill of sale after the sale is complete.

Submission + - FOSS School Management to Augment Education (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Kagetsuki
Kagetsuki writes: It’s ironic you’ll often find a poster of Einstein in schools as, after being flunked out and declared an idiot by his instructors, he had a disdain for formal education. Standardized education has become the result of countless committees deciding what they believe it is important for students to know and generalizing when and how they should learn it. This complete disregard for neurodiversity and ignorance of students who excel outside of the standard curriculum has failed Einstein and many other alternative and revolutionary thinkers. Now, programs like the US Common Core are going to very quickly make this situation worse.

GAKU Engine [“Learning Engine” in Japanese] is an FOSS School Management System that wants to change that. It’s built to support all the needs of a school providing a standardized education, but also comes equipped with tools to augment it. The core system comes with badge system integration, tools to record awards / achievements / licenses, and a system to integrate information from external educational services and other schools. It’s open source so anyone can modify it and has an extension system and an API so anyone can extend or integrate with it.

Slashdot Top Deals

The one day you'd sell your soul for something, souls are a glut.

Close