Image of the Day

Photo from Mountains in the Sea 2004. NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; Dr. Les Watling, Chief Scientist, University of Maine.

"Search 3.0"

The much talked about new search engine, WolframAlpha, went live this weekend.  It's worth a look.  It's a different type of searching, the details of which I won't bother with here as you can read about them all over the web. 

Anyway, it's definitely useful in the classroom, in research, and when you're looking for a straight answer.  It's best for cold hard facts, so getting used to the types of search queries that work might take a bit.  It's a little more picky about search terms.  After you've tried out a few searches, check out the examples of searches that work well on WA - there's a visual gallery as well as examples by topic.  

Google is set to launch the Labs version of Google Squared later this month.  Similar yet different, the release is likely timed to steal some of the thunder of WA, which was getting much hype as the latest Google-Killer (right).  Guess that's the beauty of competition working for us, eh?  Anyway, two new tools for the kit.  Great for students and research uses as we don't have to weed through all the junk results Google can sometimes spit out.  

Image of the Day

Awesome. 

From Flickr User Arno & Louise. (Creative Commons Licensed.)

Memo to The Economist.

"IT IS hard to find anybody with a bad word to say about Arne Duncan, Barack Obama’s young education secretary."

Look harder.

Where This is Going...

Obviously, this blog started as a class assignment and grew into something else.  I think I'm going to broaden the focus beyond educational technology into the bigger world of education - so that I can touch on all my interests in education - technology, literature, history, etc - but especially educational policy. Then I won't wonder how many non-ed-tech posts I can get away with on a blog with this title. 

So.  Those changes to come.

Image of the Day

"Artist's View of Exoplanet Orbiting the Star HD 189733." Image from ESA, NASA, M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble), and STScI.