What if JavaScript wins?
Anil Dash, 2018/05/16
I'm not really a fan of Javascript though I've been working with it for many years (long enough to see it become ECMAScript and JavaScript). Still, I can see why it would become so popular: it works in web broswers, integrates seamlessly with the document object model, and therefore is widely used. Add server-side Javascripe and Node.js and NPM and you have a winner. More...

Educational Technology and Education Conferences for June to December 2018
Clayton R Wright, Stephen's Web, 2018/05/11
Clayton R. Wright offers the 39th version of the Educational Technology and Education Conference list. It comprises 1,782 confirmed events between May-December 2018. MS-Word Document. He writes, "The events for May and June have been updated since distribution of the previous list. During the last 20 years, as I have compiled the list, I have viewed tens of thousands of conference, symposium, and workshop websites. More...

Google Duplex Puts AI Into a Social Uncanny Valley
S.A. Applin, Motherboard, 2018/05/09
The headlines today are being made by Google through a series of announcements at its IO conference. More interesting items include a new human-sounding Google Duplex AI interface, a new camera-based scavenger hunt (try it here), and a new interface design with Material Theming. More...

Why DIY videos are easier than you think
Raymond Steinmetz, eSchool News, 2018/05/09
The core message here is that it's not difficult to create video lessons, especially if you follow a few simple guidelines. The first is to have a plan - your video should have a point and you should have some idea why you're creating it. More...

Pixel Mags Releases Readr app for Android
Pixel Mags, GlobeNewswire, 2018/05/09
I have to confess that I'm really uncomfortable with the whole idea of PixelMags. The company, which styles itself as the "the Netflix of magazines", released an Android version of its Readr app today. For publishers, the product is "distribution as a service" and publishers have to pay to be included. More...

Lessons in saving your student paper, before it’s too late
Jessica Huseman, Daxton Stewart, Columbia Journalism Review, 2018/05/08
Student newspapers are just one part of education learning to adapt to new technology. Part of this is a decline in ad revenue for print and online newspapers, which hits some of them hard. It's especially difficult when the school has a history of suppressing student voices, a journalism department which would prefer to run the student press internally, and a lack of independent funding. More...

Jupyter Notebooks and Moodle
Tony Hirst, OUseful.Info, 2018/05/08
This post reports on SageCell filter for Moodle "that lets you embed an executable code cell powered by Sage Cell Server... in a Moodle content page... Sage Cell Server provides a stateless was of executing SageMath, R or Python code." It works by having the page import some Javascript and CSS, then using it to populate a page area (specifically, a 'div'). More...

Graphene: The next S-curve for semiconductors?
Gaurav Batra, Nick Santhanam, Kushan Surana, McKinsey, 2018/05/08
Good article on the future of graphene technology, a longish read but worth the time. Graphene is a one-atom tick layer of carbon atoms and it's "ideal for a range of applications, from battery technology to optoelectronics such as touch screens." But with technical and market issues prevailing, its widespread commercialization could take as much as 25 years. More...

What is RCS, the Successor to SMS?
Cameron Summerson, How-To Geek, 2018/05/07
According to this article, Rich Communication Service (RCS) "is the future of 'texting' on your phone" and for internet messaging in general. While the impact on e-learning technology is a few years away, it's useful to be aware of the coming changes. More...