Free Technology for Teachers: Mission Map Quest

Via Free Technology for Teachers:

Russel Tarr is on a roll this month. Earlier this month he released a great tool for creating fake text message exchanges between historical and literary characters. This week he released another tool that I think teachers will like. Russel's latest tool is Mission Map Quest. Mission Map Quest is a map-based tool for creating virtual treasure hunts. The concept is simple, you create a series of clues that your students need to follow to identify places around the world. You can add as few or as many clues to your Map Quest as you like. When you're ready to have students try your Quest just give them the web address of the challenge or have them scan the QR code assigned to your Quest.

Free Technology for Teachers: Mission Map Quest - Create Your Own Geography Games

Click the links within the cited text to see the tools.

Annual Update on World Urbanization: 2013

Via Newgeography:

Tokyo continues to be the world's largest urban area with more than 37 million people, according to the recently released 9th Annual edition of Demographia World Urban Areas. Tokyo has held the top position for nearly 60 years, since it displaced New York. There have been only modest changes in the ranking of the world's largest urban areas over the past year. The top four urban areas remain the same, with Jakarta (Jabotabek) second, Seoul third and Delhi fourth. Fast-growing Shanghai, however, assumed fifth place, displacing Manila where the latest census data showed less population growth than had been expected

Annual Update on World Urbanization: 2013 | Newgeography.com

Points:

• “51% of the world's urban population lives in urban areas with less than 500,000 population.”
• “The share of the population in larger urban areas is greater in the more developed world than in the developing world.”
• “…the larger urban areas have higher average population densities than smaller urban areas.”
• “…urban areas in the developing world are considerably more dense in the less developed world, to be expected given the relationship between lower incomes and higher population densities.”
• “The world's largest urban areas are increasingly located in the developing world.”
• “According to the United Nations, urban population will increase more than 2.5 billion between 2010 and 2050 in less developed regions, compared to less than 150 million in its more developed regions. By 2050, more than  85 percent of the world's urbanization is expected to be in today's less developed regions.”

The next $1B markets in tech

Via Business Insider:

New tech industries start small but can grow into permanent, billion-dollar slices of infrastructure. Sometimes that seems to happen overnight — like with smartphones.

And sometimes it takes years — like with the dumbphones that grew like mold from the mid-1990s through the late 2000s.

The next $1B markets in tech - Business Insider

Points:

1. Mobile Payment Services
2. Near Field Communication
3. Social E-Commerce
4. Mobile Education
5. Mass automation in human resources
6. Mobile technology in health care
7. Artificial intelligence in the workplace
8. Delivery of goods
9. Support services and products for mobile workers
10. Government information transparency

FDA OKs first-of-its-kind diabetes drug from J&J

Via The Seattle Times:

The agency cleared J&J's Invokana tablets for adults with Type 2 diabetes, which affects an estimated 26 million Americans. The once-a-day medication works by blocking the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar, which occurs at higher levels in patients with diabetes than in healthy patients. Regulators highlighted the drug as the first in a new class of medications that could help address the nation's growing diabetes epidemic.

FDA OKs first-of-its-kind diabetes drug from J&J | Health | The Seattle Times

More help on the way for Type 2 diabetics?

All About The 'Internet Of Things'

Via Business Insider:

On June 6, 2012, a brand-new version of the Internet was turned on.

Chances are you didn't notice anything different that day, as we switched over to Internet Protocol Version 6, or IPv6. Engineers worked for years so the new Internet could be turned on without causing problems.

But in the coming years, this new Internet will change your life dramatically. It will lead to the realization of a concept called "The Internet of Things," where everything—not just computers—gets connected.

All About The 'Internet Of Things' - Business Insider

Points:

• “The size of the new Internet is what will lead to the Internet of Things. Any object can be tagged with a microprocessor or sensor that takes on an IP address and connects to the Internet—from dog collars to railway cars.”
• “Today, the Internet of Things is in its early stages and is mostly used to monitoring things from afar.”
• “Devices will talk to each other and grow autonomous. This is often called machine-to-machine technologies (M2M).”
• “This will alter how managers run companies, getting rid of hierarchical decision makers—the classic role of the boss.”
• “The M2M sector is a $121 billion business today that will grow to $948 billion by 2020.”
• “Issues such as privacy, reliability, and control of data still have to be worked out.”

The Mobile Banking Ecosystem Explained

Via Business Insider:

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we examine mobile banking's growth spurt, analyze consumer adoption behavior and barriors, detail the competition to develop the best mobile banking tools, take a look at some banking app pioneers and cutting-edge features, detail how mobile banking could be bottom-up, expanding bank and credit access worldwide, and touch on how this race affects the closely-related business in mobile payments.

BII REPORT: The Mobile Banking Ecosystem Explained - Business Insider

Points:

• “…there is still some resistance to mobile banking, reflected in relatively low adoption rates.”
• “…banks have begun to invest heavily to integrate the latest and greatest features into their smartphone apps and mobile sites.”
• “…mobile banking has caught on in poorer countries, and could expand bank and credit access worldwide.”
• “If the legacy banks don't succeed in redefining their services for the mobile age, they risk losing out to upstarts like Simple with innovative mobile-first banking formulas.”

College of the Future–Singularity University

“Via Reason:

Is interest in Singularity University just a passing technorati fad? It’s too early to tell, but initial signs indicate that the college is more than just a summer camp for self-congratulatory nerd millionaires. In fact, Singularity University may well be the prototype institution for revolutionizing education and entrepreneurship.

College of the Future - Reason.com

Points:

• “…immersive 10-week summer course, which aims to address the biggest challenges facing humanity during the next 20 to 50 years.”
• “…intensive seven- and nine-day executive courses on specific topics.”
• “S.U. teams have created 18 actual companies.”
• “The production of new knowledge is accelerating exponentially, Nail notes, which means that graduate students dawdling along for years on a Ph.D. will become “fatally irrelevant.” Universities will still play a big role as research institutions, he argues, but they will increasingly have to model themselves along the same dynamic interdisciplinary lines as Singularity University.”
• “…any company or government that wants to remain relevant will seek out Singularity University faculty and alumni to help it understand how to leverage technology to meet the challenges posed by energy production, education, food production, health care, biosecurity, and environmental change.”

Ponder:

• How will individuals demonstrate they have mastered the knowledge and skills if there are no gatekeepers to say so?
• Are we seeing the rise of another class of gatekeepers?

Three Science Words We Should Stop Using

Via Boing Boing and Wired:

Science is really about making models and about playing. Yes, playing. Playing isn’t just for kids, adults just get better toys. Look at the top image. This is a great example of playing. What is the goal of this paper-clip magnet interaction? There is no point except to play. That is still a great science experiment. I just wish grade level (and some college level) books would move away from defining things and stating pieces of science and focus on the playing part. Many science classes as they are taught now are like studying the different parts of a clarinet, but never playing any music.

Three Science Words We Should Stop Using | Wired Science | Wired.com

Points:

• The three words to stop using:
• Hypothesis
• Theory
• Scientific law
• The word to use instead: model. Examples:
• Physical model
• Mathematical model
• Conceptual model

Read the linked article to find out more about the scientist’s argument.

4 Tricks For Learning Poker

Via Business Insider:

Figure out why you were miserable at your last job. The same things will cause you to be miserable at anything you do.

There are exercises to be more calm and happy with life situations. Learning a game with the hope of making money while sitting around seldom works.

Better to hug people. Better to make friends. Better to take a drawing class. To kiss someone. To eat well and sleep well and use your free time to get in shape. From this foundation will blossom new opportunities. This foundation will sit below the house you eventually live in. Don’t waste it sitting around a smoky table with a bunch of people who will lie and steal from you. Be around people who love you. Love is the best way to flourish.

4 Tricks For Learning Poker - Business Insider

Interesting take on the fun of games, what's involved in mastering games, and what they teach you about your life and work.

The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go

Via Drudge and CNBC:

Many experts worry about what robots in the service sector could do to employment. The national unemployment rate remains at 7.7 percent – not remotely close to the 4.7 percent unemployment in 2007 before the recession. Job growth isn't expected to return to pre-recession levels until 2017, and the recent sequestration could easily derail it. Manufacturing has already shed nearly 6 million jobs since 2000.

The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go

Points:

• “…[service sector] jobs have been offering a huge safety net to the middle class.”
• “One way to frame this is robots are taking human jobs away, but technology has, throughout history, transformed the nature of human jobs.”
• “…robots could create jobs in new industries we haven't even envisioned yet.”

Ponder: Good argument for the importance of orienting training toward helping people understand the dynamics of creating value rather than just learning a skill.

AVAILABLE

Via The Burning Platform:

If consumers, who account for 71% of the economy, aren’t spending, and small business owners, who do 65% of all the hiring in the country, are petrified with insecurity, why is the stock market hitting all-time highs and the corporate media proclaiming happy days are here again? It can be explained by the distribution of wealth and income in this country. Every media pundit, politician, Wall Street shill, Ivy League PhD economist, and corporate titan you see on CNBC, Fox or any corporate media outlet is a 1%er or better. The chart below shows the bottom 99% saw their real incomes decline between 2009 and 2011, while the top 1% reaped the stock market gains and corporate bonuses for using “creative” accounting to generate record corporate profits. The trend in 2012 through today has only widened this gap, as real worker wages have continued to decline and the stock market has advanced another 20%.

AVAILABLE « The Burning Platform

Provocative thoughts. Any counterarguments to this? Post in the comments.

Humanoid Robots Interviewing Children

Via Robots.net:

The KASPAR humanoid robot, developed at the University of Hertfordshire has previously been used in studies of human robot interaction with normal and autistic children

robots.net - Humanoid Robots Interviewing Children

Human-robot interaction will be the catalyst for robots becoming the next hot consumer item.

Clearpath Robotics Announces Grizzly Robotic Utility Vehicle

Via IEEE -

Clearpath definitely wasn't fooling around when they designed the Grizzly: it's got four high-torque motors, huge 26" tires, enough ground clearance to give a startled gopher ample headroom, and is perfectly happy to operate in environments where sneezes freeze solid. Need to haul 300kg of whatever you want? No problem, the Grizzly can handle that. Twice over. The robot can also provide your on-board systems with more power than you can shake a well-grounded stick at (48V at 400Ah, to be exact). Here are some detailed specs:

Clearpath Robotics Announces Grizzly Robotic Utility Vehicle - IEEE Spectrum

The revolution is well underway. Don’t miss it.

Free Programming Resources And Lessons

Via Business Insider:

What do you do if you want to jump aboard the computer science train if you have no knowledge or experience?

Going back to school is expensive and takes a lot of time. And your computer-savvy friend probably isn't patient enough to spend the necessary time with you to get your programming skills to a point where a company would actually hire you.

Free Programming Resources And Lessons - Business Insider

And they’re free.

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Huxley vs Orwell | High Existence

Found via Instapundit:

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Huxley vs Orwell | High Existence

Science Fiction Comes Alive as Researchers Grow Organs in Lab

Via WSJ:

Since a laboratory in North Carolina made a bladder in 1996, scientists have built increasingly more complex organs. There have been five windpipe replacements so far. A London researcher, Alex Seifalian, has transplanted lab-grown tear ducts and an artery into patients. He has made an artificial nose he expects to transplant later this year in a man who lost his nose to skin cancer.

Science Fiction Comes Alive as Researchers Grow Organs in Lab - WSJ.com

Immortality around the corner?

Black gold in California

Via Business Insider:

Tapping California's vast shale reserves could create nearly 3 million jobs, a report from USC and the Communications Institute argues.

We've previously discussed the incredible potential of the Monterrey Shale, which stretches from Santa Barbara to San Francisco.

The play contains more than 15 billion barrels of oil, some two-thirds of the United States’ shale oil reserves.

Communications Institute Monterrey Shale - Business Insider

24 Animals For De-Extinction - Business Insider

Via Business Insider:

at a National Geographic sponsored TEDx conference, scientists met in Washington, D.C. to discuss which animals we should bring back from extinction. They also discussed the how, why, and ethics of doing so.

They called it "de-extinction."

There are a few guidelines for which ancient species are considered, and sadly, dinosaurs are so long dead they aren't in the picture. Their DNA has long ago degraded, so researchers are fairly sure that Jurassic Park will never happen.

24 Animals For De-Extinction - Business Insider

Because I can’t think of anything more fun than meeting a sabretooth tiger on the hiking trail.

Notice the list – pretty much cute, seemingly harmless animals.

Pentagon weapons-maker finds method for cheap, clean water

Via Instapundit, American Interest, and Reuters:

A defense contractor better known for building jet fighters and lethal missiles says it has found a way to slash the amount of energy needed to remove salt from seawater, potentially making it vastly cheaper to produce clean water at a time when scarcity has become a global security issue.

The process, officials and engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp say, would enable filter manufacturers to produce thin carbon membranes with regular holes about a nanometer in size that are large enough to allow water to pass through but small enough to block the molecules of salt in seawater. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

Pentagon weapons-maker finds method for cheap, clean water | Reuters

The immediate use would be for US military task forces responding to humanitarian crises.

To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells

Via NPR:

They injected some human glial cells into the brains of newborn mice. The mice grew up, and so did the human glial cells. The cells spread through the mouse brain, integrating perfectly with mouse neurons and, in some areas, outnumbering their mouse counterparts. All the while Goldman says the glial cells maintained their human characteristics.

"They very much thought that they were in the human brain, in terms of how they developed and integrated," he says.

So what are these mice like, the ones with brains full of functioning human cells? Their neural circuitry is still just the same, so they act completely normal. They still socialize with other mice and still seem interested in mousey things.

But the researchers say these mice are measurably smarter. In classic maze tests, they learn faster. "They make many fewer errors, and it takes them less time to come to the appropriate answer," Goldman says.

To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells : Shots - Health News : NPR

We do it because we can.

Disney Stops Thinking About Tomorrow

Via NewGeography:

He [Walt Disney] belonged to the generation of innovation ,and naturally expected society to continue flourishing. He didn’t foresee the technological plateau blocking Tomorrowland from becoming reality. Currently, Disneyland is trying to divert notice from the lack of change by adding more animated features to Tomorrowland. The new rides help visitors feel as if Tomorrowland is still continually changing, and that progression hasn’t slowed down.

However, it’s only a matter of time until the whole sector becomes a Disney themed montage. If technological development continues at this rate, Tomorrowland may as well combine with Fantasyland as a childish delusion from the past. As displayed by the modern developments of both Disney movies and Disneyland, the once flourishing future that Disney envisioned for the world is coming to a rapid halt.

Disney Stops Thinking About Tomorrow | Newgeography.com

Points:

• “The imaginary world was intended to ‘give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future.’”
• “Rather than foreshadowing, like the early Tomorrowland did, current Tomorrowland is opening attractions like Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, where passengers shoot targets modeled from Toy Story or a submarine voyage where passengers go “under the sea” to spend time with characters from Finding Nemo. Concentrating on movies expresses that Disneyland has no expectations to focus on the future.”
• “Disney’s pessimistic attitude towards the rate of current advancement comes from a place of truth. New, revolutionary ideas were coming out on a consistent basis in the mid 1900s during Walt Disney’s generation, but near the late 1900s progress as a whole slowed down. Rather than innovating new and fresh ideas, the current generation fine-tunes the revolutionary ideas of their predecessors.”
• “Facebook and the iPhone may be classified as the monumental inventions of the past decade. While they improved the social networking and convenience of society, can they really be compared the monumentality of the first airplane or personal computer?”

A contrarian view of progress and the optimism it engenders.