education

They're different in Australia. This is largely a good thing.

In advertising, too, the country has a tradition of breaking boundaries-- or merely, perhaps, of not noticing them.

Please therefore bathe in (and after) this stunning recruitment ad for the Central Institute of Technology in Western Australia.

Perhaps its location is somewhat forbidding for some. So the Institute (as far as I can judge, this is entirely for real) has created this indescribable (in a good way) movie to help potential applicants get over their inhibitions.

It features Henry and Aaron, two gentlemen who might not be easily accepted … Read more

Looking for a new way to keep your unruly kids occupied? Apple, Samsung, and a bunch of other companies may have just what you need.

Polling a host of families with kids under 12, the people at Nielsen found that tablets are a great way to to keep those kids quiet. A full 55 percent said they serve their children tablets as entertainment while stuck in the car, while 41 percent do the same in restaurants.

So which activities will keep your kids busy so mommy and daddy can get some peace?

Among the parents polled, 73 percent said their … Read more

Pride in one's body can sometimes come before a fall in one's status.

This is something being possibly experienced by high school football coach Paul Withee. As WMTV in Maine undresses it, Withee, coach at South Paris Comprehensive High School, was keen to send his girlfriend a picture of himself.

He chose as his medium Facebook, not always the safest of options.

Perhaps Withee wasn't entirely sure of the privacy settings, something in which he would not be alone. For the picture ended up being visible to all of his friends. One of them happened to be … Read more

"Gorilla Glass" could one day become a household phrase, but Corning has even larger ideas.

"A Day Made of Glass 2" is a montage of "how highly engineered glass, with companion technologies, will help shape our world," according to Corning. It is mind-blowing to imagine everyday objects suddenly having rich, interactive displays and multiple functionalities.

After watching the video, I began to think about how intelligent glass, installed on a broad scale, could change the world. There are two key integrations: in the education and medical fields.

In the video, kids sit in rows … Read more

What is a "book" on an iPad? It's a question that bears some consideration, because the very nature of a tablet redefines the book experience.

According to Apple, iBooks 2 is the answer. However, plenty of booklike apps on the iPad also redefine the territory; the newly released Bats!: Furry Fliers of the Night doesn't live in iBooks, but this app feels as next-gen as Apple's iBooks offerings, or more so.… Read more

Google has won over three school districts with its Chromebook vision, bringing more than 27,000 of the browser-based laptops to Iowa, Illinois, and South Carolina.

Rajen Sheth, Google's leader of Chromebook work for business and education, announced the deals in a speech today to the Florida Educational Technology Conference.

Including those three districts, Sheth said in a Webcast speech, "we now have hundreds of schools across 41 states that have outfitted at least one classroom with Chromebooks."

The support is a nice feather in the Chromebook cap, especially since today's impressionable, fast-learning students are tomorrow'… Read more

With the spotlight turned on education after Apple's latest media event, iTunes U has gotten a facelift as well as some important resource pages on Apple's Web site.

iTunes U is a source for hundreds of thousands of lectures, videos, books, and other resources originating from many of the world's leading educational institutions. There are thousands of subjects to choose from for those wishing to supplement their education using an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC.

To get better acquainted with iTunes U, Apple has put up a help guide for new users on its Web site. It … Read more

Megaupload users (the legal kind) are upset with the FBI's decision to shut the site down yesterday before anyone had a chance to back up their files.

In response to the lawsuit, Anonymous hit back with several denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that brought down several government-run Web sites including those for the Department of Justice and the FBI, as well as Universal Music and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Today we're chatting about yesterday's Apple iBookstore announcement and what it'll mean for schools and the future of education. We'll also spend some time looking at the Megaupload arrests, and run through the top 10 questions kids ask that puzzle parents, like "Why is the sky blue?" and "How do airplanes stay in the air?"… Read more

The official iTunes U app announced at today's Apple educational event is a coming out of the closet for iTunes U, in a more profound way than Apple's Newsstand was for magazines and newspapers. Launch iTunes U, and you're even greeted with a similar wooden bookshelf, albeit in a darker shade. That's where the similarities end.… Read more