I am going to rant for a bit. I know many schools who try to implement technology on their own. If they have someone dedicated to learning and administering the computers,then good for them. But many just take a teacher who knows a little about computers and ask them to take care of it. If we expect to see computers in the schools we should also expect to have professional, knowledgeable support in place.
The teacher told the administration about the popups. They did NOTHING. Hindsight suggests that the computer should have been immediately taken away. By whomever, the teacher, the administration, or the help desk tech. Someone should have fixed it.
How the spyware got there should not be of immediate concern. I can type in playhousedisney wrong and get spyware if I use IE. (if it is a reoccurring problem THEN use the resources to find out why). Once it is there the computer should not be used by the students and it should be removed.
I think the Administration should get the same penalty as the teacher, then we might see them really care about the technology (or remove it entirely).
The attendance policy should be the responsibility of the professors. If the professors want the students to attend the classes, then it should be up to them to implement it via the syllabus.
Podcasting the lecture will only benefit the students who subscribe to it and actually listen to it. I can see this doing so much more good than harm.
My living room hasn't changed too much. A TV, VCR/DVD, speakers, CD player. All of which are not too extravagant but were pieced together over the last 10 years. The newest piece of equipment was the addition of an airport express to stream music from the computers. I am not going to replace the Living room with a computer for the many reasons already listed here. But I did gladly replace the TV in my bedroom with an elgato EyeTV EZ (~$150). You see, I already had a G5 in the bedroom and the TV in the bedroom was about as big as my cinema display. I was happy to reclaim the space that the TV took up. (also note that the EyeTV EZ also allows me to hook up my gamecube)
Now how has this changed my TV entertainment workflow? Well Instead of using a VCR to record TV I am now hooked on recording to the computer and burning a DVD (or just deleting it). I like how I can set it up to record from any browser anywhere (Work, friends house, etc). But when I want to sit in my living room and watch TV with the family I want to sit in front of my TV, not a Computer.
What I would really love to see is a solution to send the TV shows recorded on the computer directly to my TV like the Airport Express. The focus has been too much on having the computer be the output. Consumers want the output in their Living room on their TV. However for my bedroom, dorm room, kids rooms, the TV can be replaced.
But only for a select group of students. I manage the technology for the College of Fine Arts at a Michigan University. Of all the students that come in we only require the graphic design students to purchase a laptop. Does it make sense to require a painter to buy a specific laptop? Not really. But for graphic Design it is a different case. Incoming freshmen take one year of foundation courses and gen-ed classes. In their sophomore year they apply to the Graphic Design Program and enter a very rigid course schedule where 2-3 classes a semester rely on computer usage. When they are accepted they are provided information about the computers along with various purchase stratedgies with discounts on software. Their assignments range from programs found in the Adobe CS package to the Macromedia Studio. It got to the point that there were so many classes being taught in the lab that there was no time for students to get in to do their assignments. So when It was time to upgrade the Lab computers, we decided to require graphic design student to purchase a Powerbook and outfitted a lab with keyboards, mice, and 20" displays for them to have class in. Then we were able to create a lab that cost less (iMacs) and open it back up for all the other Art students.
So if the program is thought out then there would be a benefit. If it is just mandated to all freshmen there might be cause for question.
I agree that schools are only teaching the MS Office suite. It might have to do with cost or it might have to do with ignorance. I went to college originally for Computer Science but when I got married I needed to get the degree quickly and get a real job. So I switched to business and graduated 2 years ahead of schedule. In that time I took a manditory course that taught the 4 main components of MS Office. They spent 4 weeks on Word, 4 weeks on Excel, then a week and a half for Power Point and Access. During that year I got a job as an Assistant Systems Adminitrator for the College of Business and their entire inventory "database" was really an excel spreadsheet. So naturally I wanted to convert it to a real database but my boss would only let me use Access *argh*. But I did it. And I built it just like a spreadsheet (Access lets you do it that way). Then after I graduated I landed a Systems Admin position for some Graphic Designers and they all had Macs so I built a database using File Maker Pro. It was a big learning curve because I couldn't just build a spreadsheet and call it a database. But I took the time to learn it. Things like SQL don't scare me like they used to in college because I learned (the hard way) the difference between a spreadsheet and a database.
That would be easy. You just authorize his mac for about 2 weeks and then deauthorize it. He can do the same for you. This could be long enough for your friend to know if he likes the song. If he likes it he can either buy his own for $.99 or rip it while his mac is authorized.
1) make sure netboot is working properly on your server (you can use the default OS 9 image that gets installed with netboot to test)
2)build your image on your most recent machine
3) Use Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner to make an ASR image (it's in the preferences) and save it to another drive. Then load it onto a sharepoint on your server.
4) Install Mike Bombich's NetRestore onto the server. Use netrestore helper to make an Netboot image that boots to ASR. (configure the settings to use your asr image)
5) Netboot the machines to your netboot image
6) Run ASR (you can automate this)
Easy as pie (Although I can't bake:))
Slashdot Mirror
And to this day we still use the same username on Slashdot that we used in the MUD. Igor was home away from home during my time at the University.
I am going to rant for a bit. I know many schools who try to implement technology on their own. If they have someone dedicated to learning and administering the computers,then good for them. But many just take a teacher who knows a little about computers and ask them to take care of it. If we expect to see computers in the schools we should also expect to have professional, knowledgeable support in place. The teacher told the administration about the popups. They did NOTHING. Hindsight suggests that the computer should have been immediately taken away. By whomever, the teacher, the administration, or the help desk tech. Someone should have fixed it. How the spyware got there should not be of immediate concern. I can type in playhousedisney wrong and get spyware if I use IE. (if it is a reoccurring problem THEN use the resources to find out why). Once it is there the computer should not be used by the students and it should be removed. I think the Administration should get the same penalty as the teacher, then we might see them really care about the technology (or remove it entirely).
The attendance policy should be the responsibility of the professors. If the professors want the students to attend the classes, then it should be up to them to implement it via the syllabus. Podcasting the lecture will only benefit the students who subscribe to it and actually listen to it. I can see this doing so much more good than harm.
It works as a second TV somewhere in the house.
My living room hasn't changed too much. A TV, VCR/DVD, speakers, CD player. All of which are not too extravagant but were pieced together over the last 10 years. The newest piece of equipment was the addition of an airport express to stream music from the computers. I am not going to replace the Living room with a computer for the many reasons already listed here. But I did gladly replace the TV in my bedroom with an elgato EyeTV EZ (~$150). You see, I already had a G5 in the bedroom and the TV in the bedroom was about as big as my cinema display. I was happy to reclaim the space that the TV took up. (also note that the EyeTV EZ also allows me to hook up my gamecube)
Now how has this changed my TV entertainment workflow? Well Instead of using a VCR to record TV I am now hooked on recording to the computer and burning a DVD (or just deleting it). I like how I can set it up to record from any browser anywhere (Work, friends house, etc). But when I want to sit in my living room and watch TV with the family I want to sit in front of my TV, not a Computer.
What I would really love to see is a solution to send the TV shows recorded on the computer directly to my TV like the Airport Express. The focus has been too much on having the computer be the output. Consumers want the output in their Living room on their TV. However for my bedroom, dorm room, kids rooms, the TV can be replaced.
But only for a select group of students. I manage the technology for the College of Fine Arts at a Michigan University. Of all the students that come in we only require the graphic design students to purchase a laptop. Does it make sense to require a painter to buy a specific laptop? Not really. But for graphic Design it is a different case. Incoming freshmen take one year of foundation courses and gen-ed classes. In their sophomore year they apply to the Graphic Design Program and enter a very rigid course schedule where 2-3 classes a semester rely on computer usage. When they are accepted they are provided information about the computers along with various purchase stratedgies with discounts on software. Their assignments range from programs found in the Adobe CS package to the Macromedia Studio. It got to the point that there were so many classes being taught in the lab that there was no time for students to get in to do their assignments. So when It was time to upgrade the Lab computers, we decided to require graphic design student to purchase a Powerbook and outfitted a lab with keyboards, mice, and 20" displays for them to have class in. Then we were able to create a lab that cost less (iMacs) and open it back up for all the other Art students.
So if the program is thought out then there would be a benefit. If it is just mandated to all freshmen there might be cause for question.
KW
I'm really suprised that no one has mentioned that there is a 17" model configured with no optical drive at all! Sells for $1,099 (edu pricing)
Isn't the Sith in this movie going to be Anakin? I expect this movie to show anakin learning from the emperor and becoming Darth Vader.
I agree that schools are only teaching the MS Office suite. It might have to do with cost or it might have to do with ignorance. I went to college originally for Computer Science but when I got married I needed to get the degree quickly and get a real job. So I switched to business and graduated 2 years ahead of schedule. In that time I took a manditory course that taught the 4 main components of MS Office. They spent 4 weeks on Word, 4 weeks on Excel, then a week and a half for Power Point and Access. During that year I got a job as an Assistant Systems Adminitrator for the College of Business and their entire inventory "database" was really an excel spreadsheet. So naturally I wanted to convert it to a real database but my boss would only let me use Access *argh*. But I did it. And I built it just like a spreadsheet (Access lets you do it that way). Then after I graduated I landed a Systems Admin position for some Graphic Designers and they all had Macs so I built a database using File Maker Pro. It was a big learning curve because I couldn't just build a spreadsheet and call it a database. But I took the time to learn it. Things like SQL don't scare me like they used to in college because I learned (the hard way) the difference between a spreadsheet and a database.
That would be easy. You just authorize his mac for about 2 weeks and then deauthorize it. He can do the same for you. This could be long enough for your friend to know if he likes the song. If he likes it he can either buy his own for $.99 or rip it while his mac is authorized.
1) make sure netboot is working properly on your server (you can use the default OS 9 image that gets installed with netboot to test) 2)build your image on your most recent machine 3) Use Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner to make an ASR image (it's in the preferences) and save it to another drive. Then load it onto a sharepoint on your server. 4) Install Mike Bombich's NetRestore onto the server. Use netrestore helper to make an Netboot image that boots to ASR. (configure the settings to use your asr image) 5) Netboot the machines to your netboot image 6) Run ASR (you can automate this) Easy as pie (Although I can't bake :))