The Battle for Facebook

Was the idea for Facebook stolen? While this might not be related directly to Ed Tech this RollingStone story looks at whether or not Mark Zuckerberg stole the ideas from classmates who were starting ConnectU. I find this story is very similar to the accusations against Bill Gates stealing the idea for Windows. The ethics of who owns a website, the coders or the people who thought up the idea. Many of my middle school students think Gates developed the internet. I think we need to teach the history of computers, the internet and influential websites.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21129674/the_battle_for_facebook

G-Rated Search Engine for Kids

The Red Zebra search engine filters web searches for our younger students. No explicit content will slip through like in a Google search.

Also see my post about the Boolify Search Engine for kids.

Daily Newspaper Publishes Online

The 90 year old Capital Times has stopped printing a hard copy of its newspaper for Madison, Wis. It is offering the daily exclusively online.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/business/media/28link.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Math Games that are Wii Compatible

Arcademic Skill Builder has great online games for math and english learning. What sets this game site apart from the others is that the games are compatible with the Nintendo Wii.

LiveScribe Computer Pen

With the LiveScribe Pen students can record audio of lectures while taking notes by hand. The computer in the pen automatically synchs the lecture with your notes when you tap on part of your writing. www.livescribe.com