By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Google Launches 9 New Ways to Search
I've been using some of the 'last hour' searches to keep track of developing stories. If you haven't looked at Google's new search features, it's worth a few minutes to familiarize yourself with them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Wiki Pedagogy
OK, this is a completely new word for me: "palimpsests." Which means, "A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible." It sounds like a wiki, doesn't it? And that's exactly the context in which the word is used, in this very comprehensive discussion of how wikis can be used to support learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Saba to Acquire Enterprise Learning Vendor THINQ
The Learning Management System (LMS) marketplace has one fewer contender today as Saba signs an agreement to acquire Thinq in the third quarter of this year. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Outsourcing Blogger Comments to Google+
Alex Chitu, Google Operating System, April 29, 2013
I think Blogger is probably on the way out. The evidence for this (beyond the demise of other Google products people actually like) is the development of Blogger's new comment system, which is essentially Google+ comment system (with all the weaknesses that entails). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Fighting Facebook, a Campaign for a People’s Terms of Service
Woodrow Hartzog, The Center for Internet, and , Society, May 29, 2013
There's a strong similarity between a "people's terms of service contract" and Creative Commons - both are initiatives intended to move complex legal processes from the darkness of lawyer's offices to the light of common usage. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Break a Few Eggs - Stepping Away from Google
Miguel Guhlin, Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org, April 3, 2013
Miguel Guhlin reviews what he would have to part with to eliminate his dependence on Google. He depends on the search-engine giant a lot more than I do (I tend not to rely on one provider). I don't really use GMail at all (because if I did, all notifications would by default be sent to GMail, which I don't want). Nor do I use Picassa. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Rosetta Stone Acquires Online Language Company Livemocha
Business Wire, April 3, 2013
Rosetta Stone has purchased an online language learning community, moving it much more firmly in the direction of distributed social learning. MOOC providers like Coursera should take note, as it points to a community and cloud based future (like cMOOCs) rather than the old-style 'follow the lectures of experts' mode of learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Windows 8 in education: Student Demos - Elizabeth
Tim Bush, Microsoft UK Schools News Blog, April 2, 2013
My new Lenovo came with Windows 8 so I've had some experience with it. But I have to confess, far from it being easier to find things, I'm still at the stage where I can't find anything (it doesn't help that the tiles are constantly changing, so there's no visual recognition happening). More...