Easier Blue Tooth is on the way

I read with interest this BBC NEWS article on The personal and global wireless network. I was particularly interested to read,

Gerhard Romen, from Nokia and the vice-chair of the NFC Forum, explained: "If I want to stream music from my phone using Bluetooth to my speakers I currently have to pair the devices by searching for them via Bluetooth on my mobile device.

"But with NFC, I can simply touch my phone to the speakers and they instantly pair, and I can then start playing music over Bluetooth."

Bring it on I say. Getting my phone connected to my laptop was like doing an IQ test, so anything that makes it simpler is to be encouraged.

'Wii warm-up' good for surgeons

Playing computer games such as the Nintendo Wii can improve a surgeon's performance in the operating theatre, a US study shows.

Only certain games are effective - those requiring delicate movements.

The fine hand control required to play these games acts as a warm up and hones scalpel skills the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Centre team claim.

Now they are designing Wii software that will accurately simulate surgical procedures, New Scientist reports.

Via BBC NEWS

So if your children are spending hours playing on their Wii perhaps you have a budding surgeon on your hands.

Teach-yourself game design site

So for people who thought FaceBook was good only for socialising, read on...

Users can start with very simple animations

A new social networking site in the US has been launched with the aim of helping disadvantaged young people by teaching them how to be game designers.

MyG-Life, established by American-Israeli entrepreneur Idit Caperton, is aimed at teaching children how to build their own computer games online - and then give them the chance to share and assess each others' work.

Via BBC NEWS

The Net just get more interesting by the minute. One person's boring application (most of my family do not have FB accounts - just me and my niece) is another's inspiration. I want to go ahead 10 years and see where all this has gone.

'Miss Wasted', 'Mr Pimp' under fire from lobby group

Here is one that get's my blood boiling:

Clothing retailer Jay Jays is under fire from lobby group Family First for marketing what it says are over-sexualised T-shirts to school students.

The T-shirts display images with slogans such as Miss B***ch, Miss Wasted, Miss Floozy, Mr Well-hung, Mr A*****e and Mr Pimp.

Family First director Bob McCoskrie said the sexualisation of teenagers and young children was a serious issue and he was disappointed with Jay Jays for marketing the T-shirts to children as young as 10.

"We should not be subjecting them to adult concepts, experiences or identity before they are mature enough to cope with them."

Via Stuff.co.nz

I could not agree with Bob more. Whenever I see a kid in clothes like this I wonder what is wrong with their parents. Do they really want their kids to be seen as sexual objects? Please, please let children have a childhood.

Guild Announces New 360° Report on Authoring & Development Tools

January 15, 2008 – The eLearning Guild announced today the publication of a new Guild Research 360° Report on e-Learning Authoring and Development Tools. This 291 page report includes detailed analysis on data collected from more than 1,400 e-Learning professionals on how they select, combine, and use these tools. For this report data was collected, and is reported in, five distinct categories including:

• Rapid e-Learning Tools
• Courseware Authoring and Development Tools
• Simulation Tools
• Media Tools
• Combining and Deploying Authoring Tools

The report also includes highly informative essays by Paul Clothier, Betsy Bruce, and Frank Nguyen, interviews with executives from six leading tool providers, a resource guide, a glossary, and a detailed index. More detailed information about this report is available in the Research Library – HERE.

Women in the edublogosphere

Think blogging is all done by men?  Think again. For a good list of Women bloggers to get you going see Janet Clarey's page.

Sir Ed is dead

One of New Zealand's greatest sons has died today.

Tributes to the great adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary, who passed away at Auckland City Hospital at 9am on Friday morning, have begun to flow in.

Via tvnz.co.nz

Call me a dullard but I always thought Everest was conquered by a Brit, as the expedition was British. It took until I came to New Zealand in 2002 to realise that Sir Ed was a Kiwi. Just shows that education is a life long experience I guess!

Scott Base has flags at half mast today.

Copying CDs could be made legal

Copying music from a CD to a home computer could be made legal under new proposals from the UK government.

Millions of people already "rip" discs to their computers and move the files to MP3 players, although the process is technically against copyright law.

Intellectual property minister Lord Triesman said the law should be changed so it "keeps up with the times".

More Via BBC NEWS

Wikia Search

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales (right) has a new ambitious goal in sight. Tomorrow he launches the Wikipedia search engine, Wikia Search. 

Via NZ Herald

So are we about to see the battle of Google and Wikipedia?

102-year-old Brit moving to New Zealand

"A 102-year-old retired dentist looks set to become New Zealand's oldest immigrant when he quits Britain tomorrow to start a new life in Nelson.

Eric King-Turner said, "I may well be Britain's oldest emigrant but being in the Guinness Book of Records is not important to me. What's important is that when I'm 105 I don't want to be thinking `I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102'."

Via Stuff.co.nz

Yeh, this is what NZ needs - go getters! Let's hope he makes it to 105.