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Power harvesting

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:23:25 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Great ideas.

How the beat of our feet can generate power

Tiny generators turn the pulses of energy from all forms of human movement into electricity

Engineers and scientists are developing tiny generators that turn the kinetic energy of everyday movements into electricity which can then power sensors or provide electricity for remote installations.

The technology, known as power harvesting, is already being tested in helicopter frames, the floors of discos and in volunteers' knee joints in order to generate electricity. In the near future, harvesters could be used to recharge iPods and mobile phones, say researchers.

Even the gyrations of dancers are being used to generate power

Crystalline harvesters under its disco floor create tiny pulses of energy each time a dancer pushes down. The electricity created this way is used to offset the bar's utility bills

a pacemaker that is kept constantly charged by the beating of a person's heart

energy-harvesters that could be built into soldiers' boots

Tags: technology, electricity, energy

Google generation has no need for rote learning

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:57:43 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: He suggests that the brains of young people today work differently from those of their parents. He argues that digital immersion, in which children may be texting while surfing the internet and listening to their MP3 player, can help them to develop critical thinking skills.
on the other hand:
a core level of knowledge was essential: “It’s important that children learn facts. If you have no store of knowledge in your head to draw from, you cannot easily engage in discussions or make informed decisions.”

Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, has recently criticised “the move away from fact-based learning”, arguing that “knowledge, intellectual capital, is what makes educational progress possible”.

We are amidst new era, and new challenges. i do think that the way people feel and think today cannot be directly deduced from past generation and conceptions. How to implement the changes, how to direct them, is the most interesting riddle.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Google generation has no need for rote learning

Memorising facts and figures is a waste of time for most schoolchildren because such information is readily available a mere mouse click away

The existence of Google, Wikipedia and online libraries means that there is no useful place in school for old-fashioned rote learning

A far better approach would be to teach children to think creatively so that they could learn to interpret and apply the knowledge available online

“Teachers are no longer the fountain of knowledge; the internet is,”

“Kids should learn about history to understand the world and why things are the way they are. But they don’t need to know all the dates

Tapscott denies that his approach is anti-learning

the ability to learn new things is more important than ever “in a world where you have to process new information at lightning speed

Children are going to have to reinvent their knowledge base multiple times. So for them memorising facts and figures is a waste of time

Tags: google, wikipedia, internet, education

.Tel Them Where to Find You

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:19:35 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Clever.

Clip Source: bits.blogs.nytimes.com

.Tel Them Where to Find You

On Wednesday, companies and organizations can register Web addresses with a new top-level domain, .tel. The new domain, which stores and encrypts contact information directly into the Domain Name System, has the potential to become a phone book for the Internet.

A .tel domain name links to the contact information of businesses, organizations and individuals. Information can include telephone numbers; links to Web sites, including a Facebook or MySpace page; e-mail addresses; instant messaging names, and, if you wish, identities for virtual games such as Xbox Live or Second Life.

“It’s a simple idea. And simple ideas are sometimes the best,”

it is automatically updated in the address books of their friends who have their .tel information

“There is nothing else like this on the Web,” said Mr. Mansell. Rather than sending a note out to all of your contacts, like some contact management services, the update is seamless.

can also choose to display their location

Tags: internet, business, society, technology