By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Internet of Broken Things
Michael Caulfield, Hapgood, 2016/10/24

As is always the case, technology as planned works very differently from technology when mixed with humans. Witness the Internet of Things (IoT), the nascent linking of phones, printers, cameras, and a host of other dumb smart devices. They have now become the prime vector internet attacks. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. What is the difference between CSS variables and preprocessor variables?
Chris Coyier, CSS Tricks, 2016/10/26
The world of web page style has become complicated and complex, partially because of the need to support numerous browsers (both PC based and mobile) and partially because large-scale projects require variables and functions to facilitate management. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Deep-Learning-Papers-Reading-Roadmap

Songrotek, GitHub, 2016/10/26
This is an unfinished work, but it illustrates nicely the use of academic papers as open educational resources by sequencing useful and important resources in such a way as to guide the reader through the essentials of a discipline. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The NYT buying Wirecutter and Sweethome is so much more amazing than you think
Matt Haughey, 15 minutes in the morning, 2016/10/26

You can just imagine the sceptics, says this article: "You can’t build a tech site that doesn’t publish 20 times a day. You can’t build a content site that isn’t covered with advertising. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 'Star Trek: Bridge Crew' finds a new frontier in VR co-op gaming
Daniel Cooper, Engadget, 2016/10/26

I spent the summer of 1981 in a basement programming every bit of a TI-99 computer in order to build a Star Trek game. It wasn't much. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The myth of the sophisticated hack
Andrew Peterson, Desmos, 2016/10/26

Good article about hacking. It relevant as there has been a spike in recent activity, probably timed to coincide with the election (I'm hoping so; my own website is being caught in the crossfire). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Quality Assurance for Reusable Learning Objects on a Peer-To-Peer Network
Rajendra G. Singh, Margaret A. Bernard, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (IJET), 2016/10/31

Are learning objects making a comeback? We saw Cengage basically lay claim to the term last week with its announcement of a platform called Learning Objects. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. (This Is Not a Morphology of) The Monsters of Education Technology
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2016/10/31

I'm not a fan of holiday-themed articles (they're far too easy and forrmulaic) but I thoroughly enjoyed Audrey Watters's rant on the monsters of educational technology (even if I did make the list). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 42 or why one college does not wipe out previous options
Inge de Waard, Ignatia Webs, 2016/10/31
What I like about this article is that it speaks directly against the sort of magical thinking that characterizes Silicon Valley innovations, the latest being 42, a college built "around the idea of peer learning, without the interference of teachers. " Inge de Waard writes, "MOOCs and 42 are not the solution for education, just as humans are not the solution for peace (clearly). It is a positive, engaging combination of elements that makes things happen." Fair enough. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Carré Technologies Astroskin Gets Green Light for Use on the International Space Station
Marc Boucher, SpaceRef Canada, 2016/10/31

They're calling it a 'smart shirt' though it's actually more of a singlet. It monitors blood pressure, skin temperature, activity level, heart rate and electrical activity, and breathing rate and volume. More...