El carro de Barak Obama… o hacia donde debe ir el ingenio de US…

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJclecmVelYImX9Xw1TrxlWA0X_w

Indian court gives green light to world's cheapest car plant

10 hours ago

KOLKATA, India (AFP) — An Indian court gave the green light Friday to the controversial acquisition of land for a Tata Motor plant to build the world's cheapest car, the Nano.

The ruling by the Calcutta High Court came just a week after a model of the no-frills 2,500-dollar car was unveiled amid huge hoopla at a New Delhi auto show with experts saying it could revolutionise how millions travel.

Violent protests erupted against the takeover by West Bengal's Marxist state government -- which has been vigorously wooing private investment -- of the nearly 1,000 acres (400 hectares) of farmland for the plant.

Some farmers charged that the government took their land in Singhur, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of state capital Kolkata, against their will, and that they had been paid half the market value.

But the court rejected arguments that the acreage for the 10-billion-rupee (226 million dollar) plant was acquired illegally.

There was "no colourable exercise of power" by the state government in acquiring the land, Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice P.C. Ghosh said, dismissing all the 11 petitions challenging the land acquisition process.

A Tata Motors official would not comment on the court decision, saying it was up to the state government.

But the company "is moving along on target" for the jelly-bean shaped car, called the Nano, to roll off production lines in the second half of the financial year to March 2008, said the official, who wished to remain unnamed.

"This (court order) will definitely strengthen the industrial drive in the state," West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen told reporters in Kolkata.

"There is provision of appealing to the Supreme Court but I don't think there will be any opposition to the High Court order," he added.

Work began on the factory in Singhur, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of state capital Kolkata in January 2007 with the approval of the state's industrial development corporation.

Tata has said the plant which will have an initial annual production output of 250,000 units, rising later to 350,000, will create more than 10,000 jobs in the region.

Opponents say 1,200 sharecroppers and 300 agricultural labourers in five villages derived their living from the land.

West Bengal, which has the world's longest serving democratically elected communist government, has been energetically pushing creation of a pro-business climate after years of promoting land reforms and "peasant empowerment."

"The support we got from the West Bengal government during our difficult times has been of great help in making my dream come true. This will pave the way for further investments in the region," Tata Group chief Ratan Tata said last week when unveiling the Nano.

The state government has argued acquisition of land for industrial projects is imperative for development of the state where poverty is acute.

But strikes by opponents critics who accuse the government of selling out the rights of the poor have blemished its reformist efforts to lure investment.

At least 34 people died in protests in Nandigram village in West Bengal last year as locals clashed with police and local government supporters over plans to acquire land for a low-tax Special Economic Zone.

Get a Great Deal on Anything

Get a Great Deal on Anything

Save money on gas, cars, clothes, videos, shoes, textbooks, and more. Here's our guide to the best bargains on earth.

By Andrea Cooper. Additional reporting by Tara Conry, Ann DiCesare, and Kathryn M. Tyranski

The Best Secrets

Codes
You're paying for something online-a shirt, suit, or scarf-and notice a place to key in a code for a discount. But what are these secret codes, and where can you find them?

They're at retailme not.com, and it takes almost no time or effort to search-alphabetically or by category or store (there are over 15,000 stores listed). The site offers codes for home products, sporting goods, luggage, food, and even Halloween costumes.

comstock

We found codes to get $10 off a $100 order at homedepot.com, 15 percent off purchases at the sporting-goods store modells.com, and $20 off a two-night stay booked through hotels.com. Before you pay for an item you want on a site, check retailmenot.com first to see if there's a code. The discount codes work for online sales only, but the site has a thriving printable coupons section.

Codes come and go, often timed to the season. Some offers have fine print that excludes certain brands. Also check out currentcodes.com (stores are listed alphabetically), keycode.com (for the latest offers, sign up for RSS feeds), and rather-be-shopping.com (the site updates coupon codes daily).

Rebates
At fatwallet.com, you buy and it pays you back-no joke. This site gets a commission for steering you to participating retailers, and it shares a portion of that commission with you in the form of cash back.

Recent rebates included 2.5 percent from toolking.com, 5 percent from fabric.com, and 7 percent from gardeners.com. To get your rebate, sign on to FatWallet, go to its Cash Back & Coupons page, then select a store. Click on the store's link and complete your purchase in the window that opens.

The downside: Cash back, yes. Miracles, no. The site doesn't take your rebate off at check-out. It's a rebate, so it can take three weeks to post the cash in your FatWallet account and up to 120 days for FatWallet to cough up the dough via check or PayPal. Still, it is free money.

Coupons
Dealcatcher.com is a good resource for coupons, rebates, and Sunday newspaper circulars listing weekly deals. The printable coupons don't require special software (some sites do). A recent check found a coupon for $10 off a $60 purchase at the athletic shoe store finishline.com and a printable coupon for 25 percent off a pair of jeans at Gap. You can also compare prices here. We searched for the 1.7-ounce bottle of Vera Wang's Princess fragrance and found the lowest price ($43.95) through DealCatcher, versus $55 at sephora.com and nordstrom.com. The Canon PowerShot SD790 IS ten-megapixel digital camera was $299.99 at bestbuy.com. But DealCatcher found it at dell.com for $243 (including free shipping).

Comparisons
If you're short on time and want to do a quick price comparison, use "shopping bots" like pricegrabber.com. It won't catch every deal-it can miss low prices on some less technologically advanced sites-but it does give a good overview. Check several different ones (shopping.com, mysimon.com, shopping.yahoo.com), and remember to sort by price.

At PriceGrabber, search by products, retailers, individual sellers, prices, or ratings. You'll find just about everything here-sporting goods, auto parts, furniture, musical instruments, toys, video games, and electronics. The site's bottom-line-price tool shows how much your product will cost at the various sites with the shipping included. Even if you don't end up buying something online, you'll know what's a bargain. For one popular GPS system, we saw prices from 41 sellers ranging from $348.85 (yes!) to $749.95 (are you kidding?).

Clothing

Strategies

Buy at the right time
A department store will usually mark down merchandise five to eight weeks after an item has been put on the floor. "If it's been an exceptionally warm winter," says Kathryn Finney, author of How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less, "coats will go on sale earlier." The best day to shop in most stores is Thursday, especially late in the day, because they'll start marking down for the weekend. For the best online deals, shop from Tuesday to Thursday.

Haggle
"A lot of people don't realize you can negotiate when shopping in stores," Finney says. If a shirt is missing a button, ask the floor manager for a discount. She usually has the discretion to give you up to 15 percent off.

Opt for excess
Overstock.com partners with name brands to sell its excess inventory of clothes, jewelry, and many other goods at discounted prices. There was a sharp Bill Blass men's silk sport coat here for $99.99 (it retailed elsewhere for $295) and a Nine West women's two-piece suit in red for $39.99 (it was $240). At $2.95, shipping is a bargain and applies to most orders in the continental U.S. If you find a better price elsewhere, overstock.com will give you a credit of up to $500 as part of its Best Price Guarantee, but there's a long list of conditions to qualify.

Compare prices
Shopzilla.com and nextag.com are two especially comprehensive comparison-shopping sites. Enter your search term at Shopzilla (say, Hannah Montana T-shirts) or start off in one of eight well-defined categories. Shopzilla will list the least expensive sources for those tops in an organized format (they ranged in price from $5 to $30). A North Face boys' Denali jacket was a low $59 at mountaingear.com and a high $99 at peterglenn.com. Worried about purchasing from lesser-known stores? Don't be. Shopzilla rates featured sites on several factors, including on-time delivery and customer support, plus it gives you the scoop on who offers free shipping and clearance deals. And these sites aren't just about clothes-you'll find fresh flowers, computers, and washing machines too. Look at your search results carefully, though. A search for a Tiffany heart tag bracelet turned up sites that sold Tiffany "style" or "inspired" bracelets, not the real thing. An added value: At nextag.com, you can view the price history for various items.

Deals

Shoes
The selection at zappos.com is superb. Men's loafers, cowboy boots, eco-friendly sandals, couture high heels-whatever you want is probably here. Prices are great, shipping and returns are free, and you can return your purchase up to a year after you bought it, if it's unworn and in the original box. One customer took maximum advantage of this policy by ordering 13 pairs of dressy shoes in her size for a wedding. The shoes arrived on time. She tried them all on, modeled them for the family, and chose one pair for the big event. The rest she returned to her local UPS store with a prepaid shipping label from Zappos.

Athletic shoes
We found holabirdsports.com to have the best prices and selection. Our site-by-site comparison search for a New Balance men's sneaker (MR805BR) revealed a $20 range in prices, but holabirdsports.com came in first at $69.95, with free ground shipping. (By the way, holabirdsports.com rarely shows up on shopping-bot searches.)

Kids' clothing
Parents have swapped clothes and gear informally for years. Now they have a formal network for doing it at freepeats.org, which gives access to baby, kid, and maternity finds in 25 cities for a onetime charge of $4.95.

Cars

Strategies

New cars - Buy at the end of the month
That's when dealers need to fill their quotas. Or better still, at the end of each quarter (March, June, September, December), says Gary Foreman of thedollarstretcher.com. Tell them you've secured financing elsewhere. They'll counteroffer, and you'll go with the best deal.

New cars - Do your homework
Turn to the classic site kbb.com (Kelley Blue Book) to research makes and models. Cars.com will send your request to dealers for competitive quotes. A quick check on a 2008 Acura TL found 393 vehicles in a 30-mile radius of one New York zip code. Anyone flexible on options could save as much as $7,500.

New cars - Determine the real cost to own
Know the cost to run a vehicle over five to eight years, says Jeff Bartlett, deputy editor and auto specialist for Consumer Reports. We used the True Cost to Own tool at edmunds.com to compare the Honda Odyssey LX and the Nissan Quest. Factoring in depreciation, insurance, interest payments, fuel, and repairs, the Odyssey cost 55 cents a mile to operate, or $41,091 over five years. The Quest cost 60 cents a mile, or $45,303. You'd save about four grand even though the Honda cost $220 more.

Used cars - Look for older models
Depreciation hits hardest the first three years of ownership. Shop late November through December, when used-car lots are less busy. And do your research. The toughest negotiators are selling used cars, says Philip Reed, edmunds.com senior consumer advice editor.

Deals

Gas
Find inexpensive gas in your area by checking several sites -- gasbuddy.com, autos.msn.com, gaspricewatch.com, and gasprices.mapquest.com. Many are community-driven sites, some more comprehensive than others. And remember, it's probably not worth driving 15 minutes out of your way to save 10 cents a gallon. Here's Gary Foreman's rule: "Unless you'll save more than a nickel a gallon and will be buying ten or more gallons, it's best to buy the cheapest gas you find along your usual commute."

Tires
Save money by purchasing your tires online. The Goodyear Assurance TripleTred tire (size P205/60HR16) is $141.99 per tire at Sears (add $15 for installation). It's $109 at discounttire.com, $102 at tirerack.com, and $95 at discounttires.com. Some sites require store pickup; others deliver. Even adding shipping and installation costs (about $30 per tire), you'll save up to 17 percent.

Financial

Strategies

Get rewarded for shopping
Indexcredit cards.com compares credit card features and rewards. Browse through 1,224 offers and choose the benefits you want. You'll find low-interest cards, student credit cards, bad-credit cards, prepaid credit cards, frequent-flier cards, and cash-back-for-gas cards. With the Chase Freedom credit card, earn 3 percent cash back on purchases in the three categories you spend the most on each month-for your family, that might be groceries, gas, and fast food. Racing enthusiasts may go for the NASCAR RacePoints Visa so they can earn points toward experiences-driving on the track or playing crew chief for a day. Indexcreditcards.com has the most comprehensive listing, but also check cardratings.com for consumer and staff reviews and advocacy information. Creditcards.com features a good side-by-side comparison chart.

Save, and save for college
Shop with a Upromise-branded credit card at hundreds of participating dealers and you'll be doubly rewarded: 1 percent cash back on all purchases, plus rebates on specific products and services. (Register the credit and debit cards you already have and get cash back, too, at participating companies.) Once you've set up your account at upromise.com, for instance, you can earn 3 percent cash back at jcpenney.com and Eddie Bauer and 5 percent at Avis. You can designate that the money be deposited automatically into your child's 529 state-sponsored college savings plan. Babymint.com is similar, so check the lists of retailers to determine which site works best with your current shopping habits. There's no fee for either.

Compare insurance quotes
Insweb.com is a good resource for obtaining quotes-on life, health, auto, and other types of insurance-from 6,400 agents representing 21 companies. You'll have to scroll through several screens, answering questions (the kind an insurance agent would ask), then you'll receive an e-mail with your quotes. A single 25-year-old woman in San Francisco, for example, is currently paying $1,771 a year for auto insurance. The lowest quote on insweb.com was $1,124, a savings of $647. Many factors- your health, your driving record, the location of your home-determine the actual cost of an insurance policy. As a result, quotes can vary widely.

Leisure

Strategies

Watch free videos
You may not need that Netflix subscription for $16.99 a month if your local library has a good DVD collection. And hulu.com has free full-length movies-including Liar Liar, Sideways, and Jerry Maguire-to watch on your computer whenever you like. There are hundreds of videos from 56 studios and networks, including Fox Movie Channel, NBC Universal, National Geographic, and the Sundance Channel. Catch a variety of primetime TV shows, too (and not all of them from NBC, which co-owns Hulu), including The Office, In Plain Sight, The Colbert Report, and Family Guy.

Rent it
Need a trombone, power saw, or bow and arrows? Rent an amazing assortment of stuff-you name it, it's available-from individuals at zilok.com, which covers 50 cities in 17 states. Type in what you're looking for, where you live, and how long you'll need it, then make arrangements with the owner for pickup. Mason Carroll, a software professional in San Francisco, rented a kayak for $40 a day. He enjoyed paddling around Shasta Lake for far less than if he'd purchased the same kayak for $350. You can rent your stuff to others too. Both parties sign a contract detailing their agreement, but there is the possibility your renter might damage or disappear with your item.

Deals

Theater on a budget
Broadwaybox.com is your best bet for scoring discounted tickets-up to 50 percent off-to some of the hottest shows on- and off-Broadway. You'll get discount access codes to dozens of shows. Front mezzanine tickets to August: Osage County go for $102.50, but they're a low $69.50 here. Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy is $66.50, a $30 savings. Select your dates and seat preferences, and note any expiration or blackout dates. To pay, click or call. (If you stop by the theater, you'll save the service fee charged by Ticketmaster and Telecharge.) Just remember to mention the code. This site is free (some sites charge for codes). In-demand shows, like Spamalot and Jersey Boys, often don't discount.

$1 movies
Redbox.com offers recent releases-such as The Bucket List, Charlie Wilson's War, and Juno-for just $1. There are more than 9,000 of the distinctive red kiosks in 48 states, mostly in supermarkets and McDonald's restaurants. Use the website to find them in your zip code. Best day to go? Tuesday-it's new-release day. You can reserve your title in advance via the website. Or try the lazy way: Next time you're at the grocery store, choose a movie from the available titles, watch it that night, and return it the next day for $1 plus tax.

Education

Strategies

Take free courses
Prestigious universities-including MIT (ocw.mit.edu) and the University of California, Berkeley (webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php)-offer online courses in everything from art to astrophysics. They don't count toward a degree, and you may need an iPod, Media Player software, or assigned texts to participate fully.

Learn a language
The BBC offers free lessons in seven languages-French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, and Chinese-at bbc.co.uk/languages. If your tastes run to more exotic tongues, go to freelanguage.org, and you'll be directed to sites to learn everything from Afrikaans to Luxembourgish. And it's all free.

Deals

Textbooks for less
You can save some serious money by buying used books, renting them, or downloading freebies. The publisher's price for the ninth edition of Organic Chemistry, by T. W. Graham Solomons, is $192.95. Buy it new at textbookx.com for $187.50 or used through its Marketplace for as low as $75.99. At chegg.com, it's $59.16 to rent for a semester. Booksprice.com factors in the shipping costs for the bottom line at a glance. Download more than 25,000 free electronic books at Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org). You won't find new titles here, only books that have expired copyrights. The list is strong on classic literature and history, but it's not the place to go for math or science texts.

Exchange
Books (paperbackswap.com), CDs (swapacd.com), and DVDs (swapadvd.com), that is. The tagline says it all: "No risk. No spam. No advertising. No gimmicks. No gotchas. No kidding." The sender pays the shipping costs and can send by any method he chooses. "I've gotten rid of an entire bookcase this way and then refilled it with books that I really wanted," says Kelly Neylan, owner of an apparel business in Columbia, Maryland. The book site recently listed more than 439,000 titles and is updated every five minutes. Barbara Walters's memoir, Audition, and Scott McClellan's What Happened were there, as well as fiction by Dean Koontz, Lee Child, and Danielle Steel. The swapping currency is simple: One book, CD, or DVD equals one credit, but you'll have to list ten items before you earn any credits. If you don't see what you're looking for here, try swaptree.com (you'll find video games too) and bookmooch.com (you can donate your points to sick or low-income kids).

From Reader's Digest - October 2008

“Nos estamos quedando atrás”

“Nos estamos quedando atrás”

Las pruebas OCDE/PISA 2006 comprueban el rezago educativo en Latinoamérica.

Alfredo Rojas, especialista de la Oficina Regional de Educación de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO), fue uno de los oradores en el Primer Foro de Docentes Innovadores. Suministrada

Por Odette Aguilar Díaz / Enviada Especial

Guatemala - Esta aseveración dejó atónita a una audiencia compuesta por maestros latinoamericanos que participaron en el Primer Foro de Docentes Innovadores, celebrado la semana pasada en Ciudad de Guatemala.

Alfredo Rojas, hizo referencia a los resultados obtenidos en las pruebas OCDE/PISA 2006, en las que se comprueba el rezago educativo en el que están los países latinoamericanos con respecto a los europeos y asiáticos.

El Proyecto Internacional para la Producción de Indicadores de Rendimiento de los Alumnos (PISA) consiste en unas pruebas que se les ofrecen a los alumnos de países miembros de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE). Las pruebas se dan en matemática, lectura y ciencia.

A pesar de que en el área de lectura, Chile encabeza la lista de los latinoamericanos, está muy por debajo de Corea y Finlandia que encabezan la lista global. Chile ocupa el número 38, seguido por Uruguay y México.

En matemática, Uruguay encabeza a los latinoamericanos, pero se encuentra en el número 42, seguido por Chile y México.

Chile vuelve a sobresalir en ciencia, pero en el puesto 40. Le siguen Uruguay y México.

Estudios realizados por la UNESCO indican que el nivel socioeconómico de los niños afecta la educación, pero no es la razón más importante para que no se dé el aprendizaje adecuado.

“Los logros en la educación y en el aprendizaje dependen definitivamente del clima escolar. La forma cómo se sientan los niños, cómo se relacionen entre ellos y con sus maestros influenciará más en ellos que el aspecto económico”, indicó Rojas.

¿Qué se puede hacer para cambiar este panorama tan desolador? Rojas presentó varias alternativas a los docentes, los directores y las autoridades escolares para que se den cuenta de que no todo está perdido.

Explicó que los maestros tienen que programar sus clases todos los días. Ser comunicadores apasionados y persuasivos, líderes, motivadores y emprendedores. Que confíen en sus estudiantes y que tenga altas expectativas de ellos.

“El rol del maestro no es enseñar, es producir aprendizaje. Es decir, atrás quedó la clase donde el maestro dictaba o leía el manual. Ahora tiene que crear situaciones de aprendizaje donde se convierta en facilitador, no en orador”, sostuvo.

En fin, el maestro tiene que ser un experto en generar aprendizajes y aprovechar la tecnología para lograr este propósito.

Encuentro magisterial

Encuentro magisterial

Tres puertorriqueñas participaron en Guatemala en el Foro Latinoamericano de Docentes Innovadores.

Por Odette Aguilar / Enviada Especial

Guatemala - El Primer Foro Latinoamericano de Docentes Innovadores se celebró la semana pasada en Ciudad de Guatemala. Su objetivo fue premiar e incentivar a los maestros de la región que con creatividad y espíritu innovador han puesto en práctica proyectos que, apoyados en la tecnología, han contribuido a potenciar el aprendizaje y las habilidades de las nuevas generaciones.

Maestros de 19 países participaron en el foro con proyectos que además de competir por un pase para el foro global que se realizará este año en Hong Kong, pretendían establecer un intercambio de conocimientos con sus compañeros en el área de tecnologías educativas.

La delegación de Puerto Rico estuvo integrada por tres profesoras del Departamento de Educación. Elsa M. Castro de Jesús, profesora de historia, presentó el proyecto “Creación de un partido político” que realizó el pasado año en la Escuela Especializada en Ciencias y Matemáticas University Gardens. Elba M. Sepúlveda Cabassa, maestra de física del Proyecto y del Centro Residencial de Oportunidades Educativas de Mayagüez, discutió el proyecto “Física en línea”, mientras que Eulalia Texidor Ortiz, maestra de inglés en la Segunda Unidad Bartolomé Javier Petrovitch, de Cabo Rojo, trabajó con el proyecto “Learning English the Interactive Way”.

Este foro  no sólo fue encuentro de profesionales de la enseñanza que compartieron visiones y métodos innovadores. También fue oportunidad para premiar e incentivar los mejores trabajos, que apoyados en la tecnología, han contribuido a potenciar el aprendizaje  de las nuevas generaciones.

El foro terminó el viernes con la selección de los mejores proyectos presentados por los maestros. Brasil, Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile y El Salvador fueron los países premiados.

El foro se celebró con el auspicio de la Alianza por la Educación de Microsoft.

Nuevo navegador por Google!

Google Enters Browser War

Chrome, Google's surprise first salvo in the browser wars - steals the headlines and creates a stir.

Lo puede bajar en: http://tools.google.com/chrome?hl=en

Video: Big ideas for a small planet

Electric eye learns from animal eye!

Excelente artículo para la clase de óptica... -MO

Sent to you by Moises Orengo via Google Reader:

Electric eye learns from animal eye!

via The Why Files on 8/7/08

Lenses cannot project a perfect image on the flat back of a camera, so images are distorted at the edges. A revolutionary camera solves this problem by curving the light detector.

Pronto nuevo sistema operativo… que reemplazará a Windows

clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk

¿Comienza la era post-Windows?

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Redacción BBC Mundo

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Es difícil imaginarlo, por la predominancia y éxito del programa, pero el sistema operativo Windows, creado por Microsoft, estaría cerca de su fin y Microsoft está preparando un reemplazo: se llama Midori.

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Midori buscará eliminar la dependencia del software del hardware en el computador.

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El nuevo programa es radicalmente diferente a los anteriores desarrollados por el gigante informático y está centrado en internet.

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La compañía inició el proyecto de investigación para crear el nuevo software, que buscará alejarse de la actual dependencia que une a Windows con un computador personal.

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Midori es visto como la respuesta de Microsoft al uso de la "virtualización" por sus rivales y una forma de solucionar muchos de los problemas diarios de la computación moderna.

Más información en: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/science/newsid_7541000/7541387.stm

clipped from: www.makeuseof.com  

Broadcast Your Own Live Video Channel On Yahoo

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Aug. 3rd, 2008 | by Mark O'Neill |

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Who wants to be famous?   Oh of course you do.   You’d be lying if you said you didn’t stand in front of the mirror when you were younger with the hairbrush as your microphone mouthing the words to Rick Astley or Shaking Stevens.   We all have visions of being a pop star or a TV personality.   We all want to be someone better than we really are.   That’s human nature.

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The good news is that if you have a webcam, a fairly fast internet connection and some spare time on your hands, Yahoo gives you the chance to set up a free live video channel on the net and the ability for others to view your channel.

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The end results vary a great deal but hey that’s the beauty of the internet.   Everyone on Yahoo Live are amateurs and unprofessional so you’re going to see a mixture of both good and bad which also means you get to see real people, not actors.   Think of it as American Idol online.

More at: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/broadcast-your-own-live-channel-on-yahoo/

Mac look for PC a better choice

We Have Revived RocketDock.com

Written by Skunkie
Thursday, 17 April 2008

After almost two weeks of dealing with server problems and a complete site tear down we are happy to announce that RocketDock.com is back from the ashes.

The new site has been redone from scratch by PolyVector. Unfortunately because of the server issues we lost about a month's worth of download submissions and users accounts. For the remaining accounts login information has been imported and working. Users should be able to edit their past submissions with ease.

Some new features on RocketDock.com include user RSS feeds for their own submissions. Profiles now have avatar support. And last, files can be reported if broken or submitted without permission.

Print your blog in book format

Your Blog in Print!

by Karen Rani

A while back, I asked my readers what they would recommend I use to print my blog. It is getting quite long and I'm concerned I could, in fact, lose it all.

 

Krista at The Silent K, offered this link to Two Peas in a Bucket. I might consider this option since the outcome looks more creative then others I've seen. Thanks Krista!

I also found Blog Printing, from QOOP, Inc., takes your blog from Movable Type, Wordpress, or Typepad and offers the options of black and white, or colour printing, in three different sizes. Printing from Blogger is unavailable at this time. To give you an idea of price:

Black and white books cost $7.50 for the first 28 pages, plus 4 cents per page for additional pages. Color books cost $12.00 for the first 28 pages, plus 30 cents per page for additional pages. If you set up an account to resell your blog, you can specify either a percentage or a flat royalty. Any royalties are added to the base cost of the book.

I'm not personally concerned with royalities, but some bloggers might be able to sell their printed blog if it contains valuable information.

Other options include Lulu.com, Print My Blog.com and Blurb. It's all the name of preservation.

Contributing Editor Karen Rani also blogs at Troll Baby and owns Troll Baby Graphics.

Submitted by Karen Rani (view blog) on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 10:23

Posted In

• Hobbies, Crafts & DIY

4 Applications to Give Windows XP Mac Functionality

from MakeUseOf.com by Kyle Judkins

I have been a Windows user from the time I was a little tot. I am still a Windows user (and am perfectly happy with it), but sometimes I look over at a Mac and wish I had just a few of their features on my Windows machine. After doing some searching, I have been able to find four applications that give me the few things that I wanted to have on my Windows PC but has traditionally only been available on a Mac.

Rocketdock

As you can tell, Rocketdock is an application launcher that functions in the same way as the Dock does on Mac computers. I have always really liked the Dock on Macs, because it helped keep your desktop and task bar clear of clutter that can get built up over time. Rocketdock also has several docklets available that allows you to customize it to your liking.

RocketDock has been previously mentioned on Make Use Of, such as Tina here.

Yahoo! Widgets

Widgets have always interested me with their ability to keep you up to date on whatever you want while still being hidden behind your desktop. A simple press of a hotkey opens up a world of tools and knowledge. Yahoo! Widgets allows you to bring this functionality to your Windows XP PC. There are almost 5,000 widgets available from Yahoo so you will definitely be able to find what you need.

DExposE2

Expose has always been such a nice feature on Macs that serves as a great alternative to alt+tab. Alt+tab has traditionally served me well, but as I have gotten more and more into being a geek, I tend to have more and more applications open at the same time. This can make alt+tab not as useful when switching between windows or applications. DEexpose2 brings great expose functionality to your Windows computer to give you an alternative to alt+tab.

Launchy

Quicksilver was the first keyboard application launcher I ever heard about, but it was only available for Macs. Quicksilver allows users to quickly perform many different types of tasks through just a couple of keystrokes. In early 2007, Launchy was released and brought Quicksilver-like functionality to Windows XP. Since its release, Launchy has received critical acclaim, and it was also recently written about on Make Use Of by Shankar. You might also want to check out Enso Launcher that was covered by Jimmy. We also talked about it in latest MakeUseOf Podcast as well.

What Mac features would you like to see brought over to the PC?

Kyle Judkins is a 24 year old marketer and part-time tech blogger. He is the author of LostInTechnology where he talks about some basic technology tips and tricks that everyone can use.

More from MakeUseOf.com :

- MakeUseOf Directory : Read about up-to 5 truly useful web apps on a daily basis.
- MakeUseOf ‘Geeky Fun’: - Fun Geeky Pics, Cartoons and Videos.

Tags: desktop enhancements, docks, launcher, Mac, tabs, widgets, windows tips, XP

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Mi mensaje a los graduandos del RUM 2008

El cambio... y la constante de Planck 

El cambio... lo más constante es el cambio. Desde que pisaste el Colegio has experimentado cambios, ni se diga de los consabidos y planificados de acuerdo a tu currículo; pero los inesperados como los de una presentación, trabajo final o examen parcial también han debutado en tu vida colegial. No es de ese cambio del que me gustaría hablar contigo hoy, el día de tu graduación, sino de el de ser agente de cambio.

Con este intento me arriesgo a combatir el famoso dicho en inglés: “The only one that likes change is a wet baby”; pero me arriesgaré de todas maneras.

La primera vez que recibí una invitación para ser amigo de alguien en Facebook no le hice caso... la segunda vez tampoco. Me tomó varios intentos aceptar esa invitación al cambio. Yo me consideraba tecnológicamente adaptado. Tengo mi propio blog (moisesorengo.blogspot.com) y manejo el blog del Colegio de Artes y Ciencias (blogs.uprm.edu/artesyciencias), poseo una cuenta en Flickr para mis fotos digitales, tengo cámara digital, estoy suscrito a varios servicios, incluyendo la versión electrónica de ENDI y uso el RSS (Real Simple Sindication). Como ves, no parezco, sino que practico la filosofía de la WEB 2.0. Por supuesto que estoy subscrito a Youtube y he publicado vídeos en este servicio y en el de Google video.

Pero Facebook, eso era otra cosa. Una comunidad virtual, una plaza, lugar de reunión, tertulia, desde cualquier sitio, sin estar físicamente ahí... me tendría que acostumbrar y así fue.

Desde este lugar de encuentro he conocido de muchos ejemplos de personas audaces que se convirtieron en agentes de cambio y que son modelos a emular. El caso más reciente es el de Roof to Live...Changing their lives, one roof at a time!. La Prof. María Schwarz y su familia se dedican a ayudar a familias ecuatorianas de las áreas más pobres del país a obtener un lugar decente para vivir. Y lo hacen porque creen en el potencial del ser humano. En el 2006 le reconstruyeron la casa a la familia Meza y esto es lo que dijo una de las hijas de la familia, Yolanda: "Mi vida ha cambiado, nunca hemos sido tan felices, ahora vemos nuestro futuro más brillante".

También en Facebook encontré a la Dra. Margarita Fernández y el grupo CAAMpabilities. La descripción del grupo: “Campamento residencial deportivo para niños y jóvenes con impedimentos visuales. Un grupo de voluntarios nos hemos dado a la tarea de brindarle actividad física por una semana” a estos niños y jóvenes. En uno de los mensaje publicados me enteré que el Dr. Ibrahim Cordero y la Dra. Fernández viajaron, en el mes de marzo, a Guatemala a implantar el campamento en Ciudad Guatemala. Allí mismo en la plaza virtual me entero que el campamento ya se lleva a cabo en varios estados de los E.U., India y Brasil.

Son muchos los ejemplos de personas audaces que han tomado la vida por la mano y se han arriesgado a ser agentes de cambio. Gente que cultiva el cambio positivo como una pasión de vida y su razón para crear y creer. Te invito a ser uno de ellos... agente de cambio, cambio positivo, ustedes tienen las herramientas, tienen la mejor educación posible; ¿aceptas el reto? 

¿Y la constante de Planck?... ah, esa es otra historia. 

What Works in Public Education

De parte del director editorial de Edutopia:

Good educators are passionate about what they do. They are drawn to teaching not for the need to make money but with the indescribable desire to take the nurturing gene we have in our head and apply it to the common good. They're there to educate minds and perhaps inspire lives.

---

Up Front: What Works in Public Education

Together, we can save our schools.

by James Daly

published 5/27/2008

Credit: Getty Images

How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

That is part of the chorus from a song released twenty years ago by the amazing Australian band Midnight Oil. Today, it could serve as the clarion call for public education.

Our educational system faces some of the toughest challenges it has met since America's first public school opened in Boston in 1635. Nearly 40 percent of students entering high school fail to graduate on time. More than 7,000 kids drop out of high school every day. Almost half of all beginning teachers leave the profession within five years. If that isn't exhausting enough, the No Child Left Behind Act has many educators feeling trapped in a test-driven system that stifles the individuality integral to great teaching.

Here's more: In our great but bedraggled state of California, where our editorial offices are based, we have an action-hero governor who has proposed cutting $4.5 billion from the state education budget (and this after declaring 2008 "The Year of Education.") The governor has also proposed cutting funding for programs like special education, child nutrition, and before-school and after-school programs. I live in the town of Alameda. In order to submit a balanced budget -- as required by state law -- the Alameda Unified School District has proposed cutting $4.5 million over the next two years. This will be done by eliminating high school sports, Advanced Placement programs, middle school guidance counselors, the jobs of several dozen teachers, and music for grades 1-3 -- as well as closing elementary, middle, and high schools. Multiply that by hundreds of communities across the state.

California is the state where 13 percent of the country's kids go to school. It's the largest public education system in the United States, and it's about to get pushed off a cliff. What does this fate foretell for the rest of the country? I believe that if we don't get our public education system in order, this country will disappear as an economic powerhouse within a decade. You're already starting to see that on multiple fronts. We're in a vortex, and it's spiraling down.

But there's hope. Each day, hundreds of thousands of educators fight the good fight, battling intractable bureaucracies with intellectual and technical innovation designed to create great schools and inspired students. These educators have awakened to two simple facts: The feds can't save them, and the state -- as has been proven time and again -- will abandon them. Only through a grassroots holistic effort of local improvement can America's educational system be repaired.

That's where we, at Edutopia, come in. Our main goal is to help the desperately needed campaign of local school improvement flourish. That ideal is best summated in our new tagline: What Works in Public Education. Good educators are passionate about what they do. They are drawn to teaching not for the need to make money but with the indescribable desire to take the nurturing gene we have in our head and apply it to the common good. They're there to educate minds and perhaps inspire lives.

We, too, want to be part of the solution rather than sink into the quicksand of the problem. That's why we have an increased emphasis on workable solutions for average educators and administrators in typical budget-crunched classrooms and school districts. We want to remind educators why they got into the profession, and we hope this increased focus on what works is both inspiring and useful.

Our schools are going to change more in the next ten years than they have in the last hundred. Everyone reading these words will be part of that change. Get ready.

James Daly
Editorial Director

* * *

With the wolf at the door of public education, we're focusing on a new period of growth for Edutopia. Starting this month, we're launching a membership program designed to expand our audience, online and offline, and spread our message. Becoming a member of Edutopia affords some physical benefits -- the magazine, a DVD, and a best-of booklet come with the package -- but, more critically, it's about joining a cause. It's about pushing for innovation, and demanding that our kids deserve creative approaches to their education. Together, we can create that change. You can join here. Please consider becoming a member of Edutopia today.

---

Source URL:

Copyright 2007 The George Lucas Educational Foundation | Privacy Policy

School web Lockers

Collaboration and Storage

With many states and districts moving towards the 1:1 initiative, the question becomes, “How do we make this more cost effective for our school?” Buying personal computers for each student is expensive and difficult to maintain. Creating your own system can bog down your server and cannot be accessed outside of school due to firewall protections. So what is the best solution? School Web Lockers.

School Web Lockers are web-based storage “lockers” for users to store school related files that can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Each student is given 100MB of storage while teachers and administrators get 1GB. Many schools are now finding these lockers an excellent solution. Terri Purcell of Orinda Intermediate School had this to say, “OIS loves School Web Lockers! This service allows students to seamlessly use technology for school projects. They start their work at school and stash it in their web locker to finish at home. Students are much more productive now. Teachers are using their Turn in Homework folder for students to upload their multimedia presentations, which makes it easy for teachers to grade them, as well as for students to access them for presentation to a group.”

Students are constantly struggling with a place to store files. Most school libraries erase all files stored on the computer at the end of the day, and many schools have banned email from their server. With School Web Lockers, users don’t have to worry about losing or breaking disks or disk space and compatibility. Barbara Forster, a librarian at Dana High School, says, “School Web Lockers has solved the problem of homework and data storage in a way that allows students to access their work from any Internet-connected computer.”

School Web Lockers is a user-friendly secure network. It makes managing computers easier, there’s no user administration, all outside hosting, and no system administration. Web Lockers Administrators are monitoring these sites daily making sure they are being used appropriately. School officials also have access to everything users upload and say.

This service really cuts down on the use of paper. A teacher can simply upload one document and post it in every student’s locker instead of making some 30 copies of the same assignment. In turn, students can complete the assignment on the computer and upload the document into the homework due folder, which is then sent directly to the teacher. Files never override each other, so if 20 students turn in an assignment called homework1, all 20 files will appear in the teacher’s locker as homework1. Each document has the user’s name next to it and the date it was uploaded. It’s a paperless work of art.

For more information, visit us at www.schoolweblockers.com or call (858) 874-0464 to talk to a representative.

Mensaje de graduación a los estudiantes de CROEM

Recientemente me invitaron a ser el orador principal de los actos de graduación del Centro Residencial de Oportunidades Educativas de Mayagüez (CROEM). Les comparto el mensaje les llevé:

El cambio... y la constante de Planck

Muy buenas noches a todos los presentes y a los que nos están viendo por Internet... bueno el año que viene lo transmitiremos por Internet. Agradezco la invitación del Prof. Milton Tomassini, Director de CROEM, a conversar con ustedes en esta trascendental ocasión. Siempre es bueno en ocasiones de discursos hacer dos advertencias iniciales: la primera relativa al tiempo, es que seré breve... eso dicho tiene el efecto de calmar a los asistentes y captar al menos la mitad de la audiencia. La segunda es que es aconsejable poner un título al discurso, de forma tal que cuando les pregunte al final de que hablé por lo menos se acuerden del título. He titulado este discurso: El cambio... y la constante de Planck.

Acepté esta invitación por muchas razones y les quiero mencionar algunas que tienen que ver directamente con la magia de CROEM. La escuela del sistema de educación público del país que produjo los estudiantes admitidos al sitema UPR con índice general de solicitud (IGS) más alto fue el Centro Residencial de Oportunidades Educativas de Mayagüez (CROEM). El IGS promedio de esos 67 estudiantes fue de 344.  En cuatro de los pasados cinco años, CROEM ha quedado en primer lugar entre las escuelas que gradúan más de 30 estudiantes admitidos a la UPR y en segundo lugar en uno de esos años. 

En los pasados cinco años ha sido la escuela de mayor puntuación de IGS entre las escuelas públicas del país.  El 100% de los egresados croemitas siguen estudios universitarios y el 98%, repasando, 98 de cada 100, de los que solicitan a la UPR son admitidos en una de sus primeras tres alternativas.  Por si esto fuera poco, la mayoría son admitidos al Colegio. El 30% son admitidos a la Facultad de Ingeniería y el 50% son admitidos a la Facultad de Artes y Ciencias. Y como soy el Decano de esa Facultad por eso estoy aquí esta noche.

Les dije que iba a hablar el cambio... lo más constante es el cambio. Desde que pisaste CROEM has experimentado cambios, ni se diga de los consabidos y planificados de acuerdo a tu currículo; pero los inesperados como los de una presentación, trabajo final o examen parcial también han debutado en tu vida de noveno o duodécimo grado. No es de ese cambio del que me gustaría hablar contigo hoy, el día de tu graduación, sino de el de ser agente de cambio.

Con este intento me arriesgo a combatir el famoso dicho en inglés: “The only one that likes change is a wet baby”; pero me arriesgaré de todas maneras.

Les cuento que la primera vez que recibí una invitación para ser amigo de alguien en Facebook no le hice caso... la segunda vez tampoco. Me tomó varios intentos aceptar esa invitación al cambio. Yo me consideraba tecnológicamente adaptado. Tengo mi propio blog (moisesorengo.blogspot.com) y manejo el blog del Colegio de Artes y Ciencias (blogs.uprm.edu/artesyciencias), poseo una cuenta en Flickr para mis fotos digitales, tengo cámara digital, estoy suscrito a varios servicios, incluyendo la versión electrónica de ENDI y uso el RSS (Real Simple Sindication). Como ves, no parezco, sino que practico la filosofía de la WEB 2.0. Por supuesto que estoy subscrito a Youtube y he publicado vídeos en este servicio y en el de Google video.

Pero Facebook, eso era otra cosa. Una comunidad virtual, una plaza, lugar de reunión, tertulia, desde cualquier sitio, sin estar físicamente ahí... me tendría que acostumbrar y así fue.

Desde este lugar de encuentro he conocido de muchos ejemplos de personas audaces que se convirtieron en agentes de cambio y que son modelos a emular. El caso más reciente es el de Roof to Live...Changing their lives, one roof at a time!. La Prof. María Schwarz, que vive en PR y su familia en Ecuador, se dedican a ayudar a familias ecuatorianas de las áreas más pobres del país a obtener un lugar decente para vivir. Y lo hacen porque creen en el potencial del ser humano. En el 2006 le reconstruyeron la casa a la familia Meza y esto es lo que dijo una de las hijas de la familia, Yolanda: "Mi vida ha cambiado, nunca hemos sido tan felices, ahora vemos nuestro futuro más brillante".

También en Facebook encontré a la Dra. Margarita Fernández y el grupo CAAMpabilities. Esta es la descripción del grupo: “Campamento residencial deportivo para niños y jóvenes con impedimentos visuales. Un grupo de voluntarios nos hemos dado a la tarea de brindarle actividad física por una semana” a estos niños y jóvenes. En uno de los mensaje publicados me enteré que el Dr. Ibrahim Cordero y la Dra. Fernández viajaron, en el mes de marzo, a Guatemala a implantar el campamento en Ciudad Guatemala. Allí mismo en la plaza virtual me entero que el campamento ya se lleva a cabo en varios estados de los E.U., India y Brasil.

Estos ejemplos les pueden parecer lejanos y que no les aplican a ustedes en su contexto de estudiantes graduandos de noveno o escuela superior. Sin embargo, ayer mismo me llegó copia de una carta que les quiero leer:

“Estimado Dr. Cáceres:

Reciba nuestros saludos cordiales. Deseamos entregar este donativo de $2,430 con mucho entusiasmo a nombre de nuestro hijo fulano de tal, el cual ha participado en el programa de Olimpiada de Matemáticas de Puerto Rico. Es su deseo poder contribuir al programa que usted en conjunto con el Dr. Arturo Portnoy tan exitosamente dirigen. Estos dineros son su regalo de graduación tanto de nuestra parte como de algunos familiares y amigos. Queremos reconocer y agradecer la contribución que hacen a los niños de Puerto Rico.

Cordialmente,

(firman los padres y el estudiante)”

Como ven son muchos los ejemplos de personas audaces que han tomado la vida por la mano y se han arriesgado a ser agentes de cambio. Gente que cultiva el cambio positivo como una pasión de vida y su razón para crear y creer. Te invito a ser uno de ellos... agente de cambio, cambio positivo, ustedes tienen las herramientas, tienen la mejor educación posible; ¿aceptas el reto?

¿Y la constante de Planck?... ah, esa es otra historia. ¡Les felicito y muchas gracias!

Surprising Things You Can Get For Free (Or Almost)

Surprising Things You Can Get For Free (Or Almost)

Your Money
Mary Hunt

As much as I love the word, I have to admit it makes me suspicious. Just this week I won a “free” vacation, but the fine print says I need to send in a cashier's check to claim my prize. Sadly, “free” is usually a sneaky way to clean out my wallet.

But every now and then an exception comes along that's truly free-no strings attached, no hidden agendas. Here are my favorites, and all you really need is an Internet connection to go online.

Family calendar

Finally, all the information you need in one place. Famundo.com is an online calendar, address book and message board. The site merges each individual's schedule into one calendar, which you can access with a personal code from any computer. Very cool.

Why's it free? The basic free version is ad-supported but not in an in-your-face way. Famundo wouldn't be upset if you upgraded to the “Plus” version for about $10 a month, but it's not required, nor will you be hounded.

Silver jewelry

This is going to have you scratching your head. The Silver Jewelry Club (silverjewelryclub.com) offers high-quality jewelry including silver rings, earrings, pendants and bracelets (most of them with genuine gemstones). It really is free, provided you pay the modest shipping charge of $5.99. We're not talking junk here. As a consumer, your humble columnist, who is allergic to nickel silver, can attest to the remarkable quality of these pieces.

Why's it free? Giving away jewelry is SJC's way of introducing their products-they also sell their jewelry through wholesalers and stores. I have never received a single solicitation from the company.

Online checking account

Hang on, this is huge. We're not talking savings account, but an online checking account that is completely free, with no monthly fee attached. Electric Orange, through ING Direct (ingdirect.com), is a paperless checking account (no checks or checkbook!) that pays you up to 3.4 percent interest on your balance (as of presstime). You can do everything-deposit your paycheck, pay bills, send a paper or electronic check, transfer money-securely online. (Of course, you'll pay a fee if you send paper checks, drop your overdraft line of credit balance below zero or require a stop payment.)

Why's it free? ING is looking to add new customers. And because they use no paper and have no branches, costs are low.

Radio service

Pandora.com is like your own personal radio service. You type in an artist, and the service plays songs by that artist and others with a similar style. You can't download music, but you can listen and manage your own “stations.”

Why's it free? The site offers a free ad-supported service as well as a paid option where you don't see ads.

Time-management organizer

Create an up-to-the-minute to-do list complete with reminders via instant message or e-mail through RememberTheMilk.com. Upload Remember The Milk to your cell phone and you'll always have your grocery list with you. And when someone at home adds to the list while you're walking into the store, you'll be sent an update.

Why's it free? The majority of the site's features are free, but a subscription ($25 for the year) gives you access to some additional premium features.

Wi-Fi hot spots

Would you like to know which restaurants and coffee shops in your neighborhood offer free wireless Internet access? Get a directory at wififreespot.com.

Why's it free? The company probably wants to build traffic to its site and derives financial support through advertising.

Sheet music

Want arrangements of classical pieces for free download? MutopiaProject.org has 1,272 pieces available based on editions in the public domain, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Mozart and many others for piano, guitar, cello, voice and more.

Why's it free? This is a labor of love by a team of volunteers who are involved in typesetting the music for electronic distribution. High-quality copies are available for a cost, but you're not pressured to buy them.

Business cards

VistaPrint is an online printing company known for its amazing offer of 250 free business cards. They're good-quality, too. Visit vistaprint.com, create your card and all you have to pay is about five bucks for shipping.

Why's it free? VistaPrint would like you to join their 12 million customers who buy printing online, so they offer this enticement. Just know that once you get your business cards, you may hear from them a lot.

Expert computer help

If you've ever had a computer problem and wanted to pull out your hair in frustration, this is for you. Need to solve a hardware glitch? Want to learn how to use HTML? Submit your question at protonic.com and you'll get a pretty prompt answer e-mailed to you from a volunteer expert.

Why's it free? It's no secret that many computer manufacturers provide mediocre support for their own products and charge good money for it. The folks at Protonic are tired of this sort of treatment, and believe it or not, their service is free because they enjoy helping people.

Spam filter

Say so long to all those annoying solicitations that clog your e-mail. Spamato, an add-on for Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird and Mozilla Mail, does what it can to kill the junk. PC World magazine recently named Spamato one of its 101 Fantastic Freebies. Get your download at spamato.net

Why's it free? The company wants to make spam filtering available to as many computer users as possible.

Business classes

Learn everything from how to write a business plan to how to finance your venture through the Small Business Administration's website (sba.gov). Online courses are free and self-paced; they take about 30 minutes each to complete. Free in-person classes are also offered at SBA district offices and resource partners around the country.

Why's it free? The SBA was created in conjunction with the government to help U.S. citizens learn how to become successful entrepreneurs. Support comes through financing of SBA loans.

Spanish lessons

Want to learn the basics of practical spoken Spanish? Sign up (some classes are 12 weeks) and you'll get weekly e-mails from a teacher with lessons and learning tips. You can also learn French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Mandarin Chinese and more. Go to bbc.co.uk/languages

Why's it free? The BBC, one of the world's largest broadcasting corporations, is on a mission to enrich people's lives with programs and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Photo organizer

Picasa (picasa.google.com) is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organize all the photos on your computer. You can edit and add effects, share photos with others through e-mail, print them or upload them to the web. It's fast and easy.

Why's it free? Originally a pricey piece of software, Picasa was purchased by Google, then made free as an enhancement to the whole family of Google products.

Credit report

If you haven't done this already, do it now. Everyone is entitled to one credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus each year free of charge. Go to annualcreditreport.com and follow the directions. You will be offered many options for which you must pay, but stay on target for the free report. Caution: There are dozens of services on the Internet that pose as sources for free credit reports, but they really cost you money. Ignore them.

Why's it free? It's mandated by law, and this site is sponsored by the three major companies-Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

Directory assistance

If you're tired of paying a fee each time you dial 411, here's your alternative. Dial 800-FREE-411, then follow the prompts to get your desired number by phone or text message. Works for both residential and business listings throughout the U.S.

Why's it free? This service is advertising-driven. You dial in, listen to a 10-second sponsored message, then proceed to get the number you need.

Cookbooks

The popular website Allrecipes.com, which features recipes from home cooks, now offers free downloadable cookbooks for many occasions (listed under “Tips & Advice”). The pictures are incredible and there are many to choose from. My favorite? Summer Picnics.

Why's it free? This site derives its revenues through advertising and other sources, so members pay no fees.

Gently used stuff

One person's castoff is another person's treasure at freecycle.org. By joining your local Freecycle chapter, you can get used furniture, household appliances and a variety of other items. Just know that those who take are also expected to give. However, no money is allowed to change hands.

Why's it free? Freecycle is a grassroots, nonprofit movement of people committed to helping the environment by reusing goods and keeping stuff out of landfills.

From: http://www.womansday.com/money/13078/surprising-things-you-can-get-for-free-or-almost.html

new model of handheld calculators from TI

Dear colleagues,

Texas Instruments has launched a new model of handheld  calculators  – TI-Nspire CAS. This new instrument has the functionality of the graphing calculator TI-Nspire with a Computer Algebra System (CAS) built in. Here is the picture of this new calculator:

Price: $150.00 approximately

This new product is much more powerful  than very well known TI-89.  If you would like to know more, please go to the web page:  http://www.ti-nspire.com/tools/nspire/features/nspire_cas.html.

The TI-Nspire line of handhelds has greatly improved hardware compared to older TI graphing calculators. The new LCD screen has a higher resolution (320x240 pixels) and is capable of displaying sixteen shades of gray.

The TI-Nspire line features the ability to display dynamically linked variables from application to application. For example, a calculator application with an equation stored in the variable x might be displayed alongside a graphing application which would graph the shared variable. Changes made to variables made in one application will affect the others in real time.

In order to deal with this split-screen interface, the Nspire has the larger screen and a cursor-like control. By using the cursor many things can be adjusted fluently. Application window sizes can be adjusted. Equations can be dragged and manipulated while the coefficients of the equations change accordingly in real time. The graphing window scale and center can also be controlled using the cursor

The TI-Nspire CAS calculator stores and displays values symbolically instead of as floating-point numbers, and includes algebraic functions like deSolve(...) and eigVc(...) as well as calculus based functions, including limits, derivatives, and integrals. For this reason, the TI-Nspire CAS is more comparable to the TI-89 Titanium and Voyage 200.

No doubts, this new instrument can be used with a great success in our classrooms at UPR-RUM to teach Pre-calculus, Calculus, Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis, Statistics, Linear Algebra, Discrete Mathematics, Geometry,  Physics, and other disciplines.

Please consider this tool as a great help in teaching mathematics. The application of this new technology in our classrooms can bring a lot of valuable benefits. First of all, our students will get a powerful impulse to be motivated in mastering mathematical disciplines.  

Here are some useful web links related to TI-Nspire Technology:   

· TI-Nspire CAS Home Page:

http://www.ti-nspire.com/tools/nspire/features/nspire_cas.html

· TI-Nspire Home Page: http://www.ti-nspire.com/tools/nspire/index.html

· TI-Nspire™ CAS Handheld: http://www.calculatorsinc.com/TI-Nspire-CAS.aspx

· TI-Nspire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-Nspire

Best wishes,

                       Alexander Urintsev, Associate Professor of Math Dept

E-mail: alexu@math.uprm.edu

Tel: (787) 832-4040, x3181

100% electric car in production only $109,000.00

Tesla Motors Begins Regular Production of 2008 Tesla Roadster

San Carlos, Calif. – (March 17, 2008) -- Regular production of the 2008 Tesla Roadster commenced today, marking an historical milestone for Tesla Motors and a watershed in the development of clean, zero-emissions vehicles.

First unveiled as a prototype on July 19^th, 2006, the revolutionary Tesla Roadster generated an extraordinary response from people everywhere who were inspired by the vision that beautiful, high performance cars could generate zero-emissions and burn no oil.

Less than 2 years later, this vision has become a reality as Tesla Motors begins production of this breakthrough electric vehicle. The 2008 model year is sold out and Tesla is currently taking reservations for the 2009 model year Tesla Roadster. To date, over 900 Tesla Roadsters have been reserved in total.

Through the course of development of the Roadster, Tesla Motors has established a leadership position in EV technology which it plans to extend over the next years, leading to the introduction of its next model, a five passenger sports sedan, in 2010.

Tesla Motors president and CEO, Ze’ev Drori, comments further on this important milestone on the corporate blog at http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=57 .

Over 100 classic book titles free online

http://imgs.zinio.com/retail_srvs/classics/

HP new Mini-Note laptop for ~$500

Tue, Apr 08, 2008
HP unveils small laptops for students (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2008/mobility/ds_HP2133Mini-NotePC.pdf)
New line of scaled-down, low-cost laptops the latest in a growing trend
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

Primary Topic Channel:  Computers

HP's new laptop highlights the popularity of low-cost computing.

One more of the world's largest technology companies is about to enter the growing market for pint-sized computers targeted mainly for pint-sized customers.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 1 seller of personal computers worldwide, on April 8 said it's throwing its weight behind a new class of miniaturized laptops targeted primarily to students, a fledgling market already populated with products from Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor company, and Asustek Computers Inc., the world's largest maker of computer motherboards.

The machines are so new that the industry hasn't settled on a name for low-cost and scaled-down laptops, used primarily for surfing the internet and performing other basic functions such as word processing.

Intel has labeled them "netbooks," and it expects more than 50 million netbooks to be in circulation by 2011.

HP executives say their new machines, which go on sale later this month, are an important piece of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's effort to build market share in schools, where machines have to be smaller and cheaper without losing too many functions.

The companies also expect adults to gravitate to the idea of buying two laptops--a lightweight one just for web browsing on the go, and a full-power machine for the home or office. But industry executives acknowledge that the market is untested and that no one knows what the demand will be once the machines are deployed widely.

HP's foray comes in the form of a new computer called a "Mini-Note" that weighs less than 3 pounds, with a screen that measures 8.9 inches diagonally. The machines start at less than $500 for a Linux-based model. Prices go up for Windows Vista models with faster processors.

The processors HP is using are made by Via Technologies Inc., the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz. The inclusion is a big win for Via, which trails Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. by a wide margin in the microprocessor market.

HP executives say the only major feature its Mini-Note lacks is an optical drive for using DVDs and CD-ROMs, which can be bought separately. But they say many schools request that the drives be left out to prevent students from playing unauthorized games.

HP also says it plans to provide free, online professional development courses designed to help teachers engage students' interest and improve their achievement through the use of technology.

The Mini-Note will compete primarily with Intel's Classmate PCs, which are designed by Intel and feature Intel chips but are built and branded by other companies, and Asustek's Eee PC. Intel last week announced new Classmate PC models with larger screens and more memory (http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53401).

To a lesser extent, they also will go up against the XO laptop from the Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit One Laptop per Child, which is intended primarily for school children in developing countries--though Birmingham, Ala., soon will be the first U.S. city to deploy XO laptops to its students (http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53412).

Intel says it has sold "tens of thousands" of Classmate PCs since they went on sale last year. And OLPC says it has sold hundreds of thousands of XO laptops. Figures were not immediately available for sales of the Eee.

Links:

HP

Intel Classmate PC

One Laptop Per Child

Asustek Computers Inc.

Clave la experiencia investigativa

Clave la experiencia investigativa

Alacima provee herramientas prácticas a los futuros maestros de las ciencias y de las matemáticas.

AlACiMa provee un programa de Investigación Científica en verano para los futuros maestros de estas materias. RAFAEL PICHARDO

Por El Nuevo Día

Al preparar a los estudiantes como futuros maestros de ciencias y matemáticas, tenemos que darles las herramientas para que sean capaces de enseñar conceptos y destrezas relevantes en el futuro.

Las investigaciones en las ciencias y las matemáticas generan continuamente nuevo conocimiento de forma exponencial. No podemos enseñar hoy los datos y la información que generarán estas investigaciones, así como tampoco las metodologías educativas más efectivas que continúan siendo descubiertas por las ciencias cognitivas y la neurobiología. Entonces, ¿qué podemos enseñar hoy a los futuros maestros que los prepare para ofrecer la mejor educación de ciencias y matemáticas en el futuro?

El aprendizaje de ciencias y matemáticas consiste en memorizar datos aislados, pasar por el proceso de entender conceptos fundamentales estableciendo relaciones entre estos, desarrollar las destrezas de resolver problemas abiertos, aprender a obtener datos en investigaciones, organizarlos, analizarlos y llegar a conclusiones válidas. En otras palabras, aprender ciencias y matemáticas no consiste en aprender una serie de datos y ecuaciones aisladas sin saber de dónde y cómo surgieron. Una de las partes importantes de aprender ciencias y matemáticas es entender los procesos por los cuales los científicos y los matemáticos llegan a saber lo que saben. En otras palabras, es aprender el proceso por el cual se hacen investigaciones y se genera nuevo conocimiento.

Para proveer este tipo de experiencias, AlACiMa provee un programa de Investigación Científica en verano a los futuros maestros de estas materias. Trabajan todo el verano y algunos estudiantes también trabajan durante el año, en laboratorios establecidos de las Facultades de Ciencias Naturales e ingeniería de los recintos principales de la Universidad de Puerto Rico y otros centros de investigación importantes en Puerto Rico.

En los cuatro años que AlACiMa ha auspiciado este programa, 118 futuros maestros han hecho investigaciones. El verano de 2007 participaron 25. Las áreas de investigación han sido variadas: desde soluciones a ecuaciones matemáticas nuevas, optimización de celdas de combustibles biológicas, construcción de sensores de ADN, contaminación de agua, diversidad microbiana en bosques, bacterias extremófilas de la superficie salina de hojas de mangle, hasta caracterizaciones electroquímicas de nano catalíticos. Muchos de estos estudiantes han publicado artículos en revistas moderadas por sus pares.

Sin duda, la experiencia de aprender cómo llegamos a saber lo que sabemos es muy diferente a la de tan sólo conocer los resultados de las investigaciones. Esta experiencia permite a estos estudiantes entender los descubrimientos que se hagan en el futuro y comunicarlos de inmediato a sus futuros estudiantes.

Un aspecto importante de la preparación de los futuros maestros debe consistir de experiencias investigativas. Con estas experiencias aprenden a pensar críticamente, para poder enseñarles a sus estudiantes esas destrezas. Destrezas que nos ayudan a aprender por nosotros mismos toda la vida.

Para más información sobre el proyecto AlACiMa, visite el portal electrónico: http://www.alacima.org.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/teens/vida_y_estilo/clave_la_experiencia_investigativa/375531

New wireless technology

New wireless technology:

¿Qué es la transición digital de la televisión?

¿Qué es la transición digital de la televisión? En la medianoche del 17 de febrero del 2009, todas las estaciones de televisión en los Estados Unidos dejarán de transmitir sus señales análogas y cambiarán totalmente a transmisiones digitales. La transmisión digital proporcionará una imagen más clara y más opciones de programación y liberará las transmisiones para el uso de los respondedores de emergencia.

 

Puede conseguir su cupón en:

https://www.dtv2009.gov/es/default.aspx?olr=1

¿Ya llenaste el pacto ciudadano?

Sandra Vega nos comparte desde su blog:

¿Ya llenaste el pacto ciudadano?

Pinchando el siguiente enlace Puerto Rico quiere A, puedes firmar cibernéticamente el pacto ciudadano para una educación de calidad mundial. Esta iniciativa es promovida por la Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico.

¡Entra, fírmala y riega la voz!