RIP Steve Jobs

While I may not have agreed with his labor practices or his refusal to consider the enterprise market, there is no doubt that Steve Jobs was a creative genius. His obsession with form over function has led to some of the most significant advances in consumer electronics. Without him MP3 players might still be the size of an old school Walkman, phones would be bulkier than they are today, and tablet computing would not be in the mainstream at all. Thank you Steve for all of the innovations you have brought to the industry.

This is a good thing because honestly, using Google Docs on a tablet has been a bit of a letdown. I use my tablet more and more, and this addition makes it one step easier for making a tablet a second instead of third device. In other words, needing a laptop for mobile computing is becoming less of a necessity for me as I can do just about everything I need to do on a tablet when I am not at my desk.

This looks like a great device, especially if you plan to take advantage of Amazon’s digital and cloud offerings. We have been buying TV shows and movies on Amazon Instant Video for a while now and have been quite happy with that. The Fire would be another option for watching those shows.

Of course, the big thing seems to be comparing it to an iPad or calling this an iPad killer. CNN even has an article about this: Kindle Fire vs. iPad: Which is right for you? I don’t think this is quite an iPad killer, but it is certainly an attractive alternative. I think this will bring tablets into the mainstream. $199 is a lot easier to drop than $499 on a tablet, and if you don’t need any of the extra features then why pay for them. But if you plan on using  a variety of apps then the iPad may still be more your style since (unreasonably in my opinion) developers tend to write apps for the iPad before they do an Android version.

There are many resources online about cyberbullying.

The National Crime Prevention Council has resources at:

http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying

Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001. After almost 10 years I think it is time to move to a modern OS. I’m sure Apple hopes that rather than buy a new Windows 7 machine people will switch to a Mac. Either way it’s a good idea to stop supporting ancient technology.

I find it interesting that there is always call to reduce lab services when usage statistics show that students are using labs about the same as they did in the past, even though “everyone” goes to college with a computer. In my experience labs provide an excellent service for students on campus.

Source: Online Schooling