For a long time, Mac users have been well-protected from computer viruses, trojans and spy-ware. Well, the trend seems to continue and OS X seems better than ever in providing such security.

Mossberg writes, “There has never been a successful virus written for Mac OS X, and there is almost no spyware that targets the Mac. Plus, the Mac is invulnerable to viruses and spyware written for Windows. Not only is it more secure, but the Mac operating system is more capable, more modern and more attractive than Windows XP, and just as stable.”

You may or may not agree, but you can checkout Mossberg’s complete article at: http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html

An interesting lawsuit was launched this week by Adbusters, a Vancouver-based alternative media organization, against major Canadian media broadcasters including CTV, CanWest Global, CBC and CHUM. Adbusters is suing the broadcasters for refusing to air their unique brand of anti-commercialism ads.

“Broadcasters have refused to air the ads on the grounds that they are too controversial, advocate ideas instead of products, and the don’t fit the broadcasters’ business model.” Obviously, broadcasters make money selling advertising, and may be feeling that running the ads would only be counter-productive the core of their business.

I am very interested to see how this turns out as it certainly involves a growing resistance against mass media, and a social movement toward greater media democracy. Check out Adbuster’s version of the story if you want to learn a bit more from their side.

I may have been in the dark all this time, but I found a GREAT site that lists hundreds of calendars for subscription. These calendars include those related to academic events, entertainment, sports, holidays, etc. Simply subscribe to the Calendars in Apple’s iCal or Mozilla Calendar (and several other related apps), and your calendar is automatically updated and the events are added.

Check it out:
http://icalshare.com/

If you are interested in a trip to Spain this December, you may want to check out the m-ICTE2004 Conference in Cáceres, Spain. The conference will be held December 14-17, 2004, but the call for papers (abstracts) deadline is coming up very soon (Sept. 30, 04).

Check out the full details at: http://www.formatex.org/micte2004/micte2004.htm

Well, I guess this has been around for a while, but it’s new to me. Cool! At the Aerial Kite Photography site, Scott Haefner shares both the technical ‘how to’s’ of the little known art of aerial kite photography, as well as his excellent collection of photography from this pursuit. The stills are great, and the 360 degree quicktime panoramas are amazing. Be sure to take a look.

Here’s a great resource from Edutopia (GLEF).

http://glef.org/php/biglist.php?id=137

It’s the ‘big list’ of technology integration resources, and it’s broken down into the following categories: course modules, articles, interview, people, organizations and resources. TONS of great stuff here, and a good place to start for those new to this area.

Here’s a short, well-written paper which speaks to the benefits of open source in the educational environment.

http://www.opensourcesummit.org/open-source-200408.pdf

In particular, this paper:
– does well to describe what open source is, and what it is not,
– describes the common comparison of open source to proprietary software,
– tracks the current thought of open source software in higher education,
– highlights a few important open source projects,
– argues how the adoption of open source software can make life/education better, and
– provides ways in which one can support open source initiatives in one’s own environment.

Much of the content will be familiar to those who follow open source developments, but this is certainly a document that I would pass on to those who are new to the area.

The call for papers for the International Conference on Learning for July 2005 has been announced. The deadline for the first round of proposals is coming up quick … October 1, 2004.

I had a chance to attend this conference in 2001 when it was held on the island of Spetses, Greece, and it was a great experience … and I guess the setting wasn’t too bad either.

For more information on the conference, check out:
http://www.learningconference.com

It’s also been added to the Educational Technology Conferences Calendar.

Every year, Project Censored puts out a list of the top 25 censored media stories for the period. It’s an interesting project, and here is this year’s list.

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/index.html

I recently presented “Internet Beware: What Teachers Need to Know About the Internet” at my old high-school in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. The presentation spoke to Internet/Media Awareness type issues which should be of great concern to most, especially as they relate to adolescent use of technology. I covered topics such as violent and sexual content, adolescents and instant messaging, online predators, technology and privacy, information literacy, and generally, how teachers can help students become critical consumers of information.

The presentation is available in the recent presentations area of my portfolio. If your school is interested in a similar presentation, please feel free to contact me.

(btw: The image is of my daughter proof-reading the presentation for me.)

My brother George has recently entered the league of educational bloggers and has setup shop on the educationaltechnology.ca domain at: http://www.educationaltechnology.ca/rjshs. George is a teacher at Rimbey Junior Senior High School in Rimbey, Alberta, and felt that setting up his blog would be an excellent way of communicating to the teaching staff to which he mentors in this area. If you are K-12 teacher, George may have some great stuff to offer you … be sure to check it out. And good luck with the blog bro!

The 19th Conference of the European Schools Project (ESP) will be held on March 10-13, 2005 in Helsinki Finland. This year’s conference title is “Learning Goes Mobile – a Collaborative Knowledge Building Conference on New Media, Learning and Schools”

Website: http://esp.eduprojects.net/en/esp19eng.html

Call for Papers Deadline is November 15, 2004.

This has also been added to the Educational Technology Conferences Calendar. If you haven’t yet subscribed, here is another chance.

A full description of the conference is available in the extended entry.
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