It might not be exactly what you're looking for, but check out http://whynot.net/ for idea exchange.

Less important: It appears that Google Docs does support SSL. See the Following: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=100181

More important. If Google sold an appliance, much like the Google Search Appliance, that allowed you to run Google Docs from your own network... or anywhere on the internet, that's bringing the cloud to your business. I see things going that way.

Google already does something like this with Google gears, but I haven't tried it yet.

--Pathway

No, I did not RTFA... but about Cloud Computing and all the conserns that come with it:

First, let's define the Cloud. If you have your backups "In the Cloud", my understanding is that you have your data hosted by somebody other than you. You reach them over the internet. You're using the internet to access the services. Because you're receiving this service from an outside network, you're getting it from the "Cloud".

Traditionally, you would be doing this yourself, within your own network. This is defiantly not from the "Cloud".

But what if you were running a business with multiple offices? What if the services you want are only at HQ? If you allow access to these services over the internet, isn't this "In the Cloud" for branch offices? Isn't that just a self-hosted cloud?

Hopefully, for anything you wish to keep private, you encrypt your data.

--Pathway

All I can say is...

Totally cool real life superhero origin story!

Okay, I'll stop geeking out now.

--Pathway

Ah, you're not following the MACK(TM) Truck Rule.

The MACK Truck Rule (MTR for short) is a measuring stick which we use do determine if a solution is good for us. Basically, it's an objective measurement of the level of expertiese required to do something. Basically, the MTR has you ask yourself (Or your team) the following question:

If the person(s) responsible for a task was suddenly hit by a MACK(TM) truck, How much time would it take for somebody else, untrained, to complete that task if needed?

If that amount of time is unreasonable*, It doesn't follow the MTR. Notice the caveat for unreasonable; this is the subjective part. What' unreasonable for one may be reasonable for another. This needs to be decided for yourselves.

Documentation always helps difficult tasks pass the MTR. So can good support. I try to leave a readme in the place where the installer is for a difficult program. I'm now begining to use FreeMind to map out networks and servers. I have a good ticket system for all our repairs. Hopefully these things will make things easier the day I want to take a vacation.

--Pathway

I'd like to point out something I've observed over the years I've used my DVR: I watch the commercials.

I'll be watching my show, and I'll be using the 30-second skip feature to skip commercials during the show... but in the act of flipping through the commercials, If I see something that looks interesting to me, I'll actually go back and see what the commercial is about.

Reasons I skip commercials include: The commercial is annoying, I've seen it several times, or I am defiantly not the target audience.

I've also experienced where I am watching with somebody else, I skip a commercial, and the other party asks to go back to see it because they were interested in it.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this observation. So, I think all commercials get a fair showing in most cases with DVR.

Take the entire transcript and replace the following words:

Microsoft -> Chevorlet
XP -> Malabu
Vista -> Volt

So if the sentence "We are not going to upgrade to Microsoft Vista, because XP is running fine and we've heard that there are problems with Vista." read as "We are not going to update to Chevy Volts, because our Malibus are running fine and we've heard there are problems with the Volt." ... Would it be fair for Chevy to complain?

I don't think so.

And, no, I did not RTFA.

--Pathway

OpenDNS - This is the easiest to configure. Setup your internet connection to use the OpenDNS servers, and then do some base filtering on the really bad stuff. Block specific domains if you want, and/or use the built in blacklists.

Squid - This is a proxy filter. It can do a lot of things, but mostly it is use by the next few things to do what you want:

DansGuardian - A truly excellent content filter, with weighted lists if you like. Want to allow "Brest Cancer" but not just "Brest"? It can do that. Very powerful, but also takes some work to do.

AdZapper - Does what it sounds like: It stops Advertisements. Truly a great way to trim the net of the waste. ... and to do all these things, I recommend ...

ClarkConnect. It's a linux based firewall which can do all this and a whole lot more. Free and Paid versions available. Others will suggest different programs, this is just the one I'm using.

I'm using the Windows 7 Beta right now, and previously I've been using Windows Vista.

Is it really that much better? Here are the points I can think of it being better than Vista:

* Faster on Less Hardware - They did make it work better on older slower hardware with less memory.
* Less Annoying User Account Control - It doesn't freak out every time I want to run a program from the desktop. This should be included into Vista with a service pack, imho.
* New Starbar - I like it. Good Job Microsoft. But is it worth the upgrade?

Other than these things... why would anybody upgrade?

Oh... yeah, that's right... Everybody says it's "So much better." Right.

--Pathway

Remember what's important: That the students learn. Every thing you do should prompt you to ask this one simple question:

How does this benefit the students learning?

Computers are great, but there is nothing that a computer alone can do to teach a child. It requires people to do the hard work of actually setting up the computers to be used as tools in the teaching of Math, Science, Reading, History, Music, Art... all the things that are completely doable without a computer.

Where computers can be the most beneficial is with composition, collaboration, and as a tool of learning. Remembering this, you should be able to find the best way to help your students.

--Pathway

This is great progress!

Okay, I listened to parts of all three videos that were in the article. What we can get right off the bat is:

1. The MIDI instruments were horrible. I had better MIDI in the mid-90's Microsoft. Stop using the FM Synth!
2. The mood of the original music did not match the mood of the generated track.

and, what will probably get me the most "This is a Troll" marks...

3. The music was actually very good. Chord progressions went smoothly, and followed and harmonized with the vocal track extremely well. I'm not big on rap, and I've never heard the song by (The Notorious) B.I.G. It was very good, even with the funky 80's techno harmony. The exception was the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper". But I bet that if they could have somehow removed the reverberation from the vocal track that the computer had to deal with... I bet it would have done just as well as it did on the other two songs. As for the Police's "Roxanne", I never knew that Sting's singing sounded so Jamaican!

But, looking into the future: They prefect this technology... and nay singer can create a melody, and a full harmony and rhythm is created for them... I don't know if I should be impressed by the technology or scared of the crap that will come through the radio.

--Pathway