Total Information Awareness tchotchkes
The Total Information Awareness program may have removed its ominous logo from its Web site — but you can still get your TIA-insignia T-shirts, teddy bears, mugs and thongs! Hurry, though, they're going fast (into detention)! [Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment]

mmm toys, i want one. but i'll have to get one every few weeks as they are bound to change the name that often.

interesting. NY Times has recently published two articles regarding a rise in unbleeped words and sex during prime time. Does this have to do with consolidation in the telecomm industry as one article suggests or their trying to compete for young viewers with cable at the same time that eyeballs are dwindling. [Tech Law Advisor]

dwindling ratings is my bet. look at how it works elsewhere in the world.

Remotely Counting Machines Behind A NAT Box [Slashdot]

saw that a person was doing basically this at rubicon last year

Anyone else, especially the lawyer bloggers, going to SXSW this year?

[Ernie the Attorney]

I will be going, I'm no lawyer though, just an average joe academic.

Finally, a helper robot.

A new robot from Mitsubishi designed to care for the elderly:

The robot is equipped with functions to help elderly people and those in poor health send an alarm to hospitals, security firms and relatives when an emergency happens.

The Wakamaru responds to voice commands, and has a 10,000 word vocabulary (all Japanese, of course), and goes on sale next year.
Read

[Gizmodo]

hmm, i wonder whether one could use these in an office setting? the best thing about technology like this is that it can be repurposed with little effort.

New mini-display for the Pocket PC.

You can turn your PDA into a virtual reality machine now with this mini-display from Interactive Imaging Systems. The Second Sight M1100 attaches to a pair of glasses, making it seem as though you're looking at a full-sized screen, and connects to a Pocket PC via a Compact Flash or PCMCIA card slot.
Read

[Gizmodo]

i want it to be a bit cleaner than this, why can't we have a monocle based design or the like?

Just came across an interesting 'Power Law' paper, published by a team at NEC, which offers some thought-provoking data:

“NEC researchers discovered that the degree of “rich get richer” or “winners take all” behavior varies in different categories and may be significantly less than previously thought.”

The key is competitiveness: in very competitive scenarios (NEC looked at ecommerce sites) 'preferential attachment' resulted in distributions that were very close to power law. But, in less competitive environments, the distributions moved steadily away from power law. In fact, deviation from power-law distribution becomes an index for competitiveness. I wonder what the Weblog index looks like? The team also pointed out that 'preferential attachment' did not prevent the rapid rise of a new star (they cite Google)… [www.gulker.com - words and pictures from Silicon Valley]

This is an interesting study. I haven't seen it before.

OSS Officially On Microsoft's Financial Radar Screen [Slashdot]; Microsoft: Open source could harm us[CNET News.com]. The software giant warns that the success of the open-source movement could hurt its sales, potentially forcing the company to cut prices and sacrifice both revenue and profits. Pity… [www.gulker.com - words and pictures from Silicon Valley]

about time McSoft wakes up and smells the coffee, now what can they to…. not much… money is not the only issue here….

this is fairly interesting report, if you are into science and technology funding structures and policy, i think you should read it.

CALL FOR PAPERS

IASTED International Conference
COMPUTERS AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION (CATE-2003)

IASTED International Symposium on WEB-BASED EDUCATION (WBE-2003)

June 30 – July 2, 2003
Rhodes, Greece

http://www.iasted.org/conferences/2003/greece/cate.htm

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

Submissions due – February 10 , 2003
Notification of acceptance – March 15, 2003
Final papers due – April 15, 2003
Registration fee – May 1, 2003

SPONSORS

The International Association of Science and Technology for Development
(IASTED)

IN COOPERATION WITH:

National University telecommunications Network (NUTN), U.S.A.
IEEE Learning Technology Task Force (IEEE LTTF)
Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd)
Japanese Society for Information and System in Education (JSISE)
International Society for Engineering Education (IGIP)
European Association for International Education (EAIE)
Euroasian Association of Distance Learning (EADL)
University of Patras, Greece
University of the Aegean, Greece

PURPOSE

CATE/WBE-2003 will act as a major forum for the presentation of innovative
developments and the exchange of information for researchers and practitioners
on the use of technology in education. In addition to the regular scope, this
conference will feature the International Symposium on Web-based Education
(WBE-2003).

CATE-2003 CONFERENCE SCOPE

CATE/WBE-2003 will act as a major forum for researchers and practitioners
interested in recent advances in the use of technology in education.
CATE-2003
topics include, but are not limited to:
Distance Education
Open Education
Curriculum Design
Multimedia and Hyper-media
Educational and Training Systems
Open Universities
On-demand Education
Quality Control
Pedagogical Issues of Distance and Open Education
Advanced Technology in Education and Training
Computer-assisted Learning and Instruction
Authoring Tools and Methodology
Information Technology
Human-Computer Interface
Mobile Communication and Computing
Satellite Communication
Televised Courses and Telecommunications
Collaborative Knowledge Construction and Learning
Educational Software and Hardware
Educational Software
Educational Hardware
Database Design
Collaborative Software
Visual Programming
Expert Systems
Software Agents
Artificial Intelligence
Educational Technology and Students with Special Needs
Security and Reliability
Human Resource Issues
Economics
Teacher Training
Teacher Evaluation
Accreditation
Scheduling
Policy
National Policies
Standardization
Assistance of National and International Organizations
Special Conditions in Developing Countries
Evaluation and Assessment
Institutional Issues on Education and Training
Education of Children
Primary and Secondary Education
University Education
Vocational Training
Education for Business and Industry
Education for the Disabled
Multi-Teacher Courses
Strategic Planning
Case Studies
Technology Centers

WBE-2003 SYMPOSIUM SCOPE

WBE-2003 topics include but are not limited to:
Web-Based Education (WBE)
Web-Based Training (WBT)
Online Education and Online Training
E-Learning and E-Training
Teaching and Learning Technologies for WBE and WBT
Communication Technologies for WBE
Software and Hardware systems for WBE
Web-Lecturing Technology
Reusable Learning Objects and Standards
Standards for Online Learning and Teaching
Scientific Web-Based Laboratories for WBE
Design and Development of Online Courses
Virtual Universities and Colleges
Online Degree Programs and Certificate Programs
Evaluation and Assessment in WBE
Quality Issues of WBE
Testing and Assessment Issues of WBE
Pedagogical Issues of WBE
Best Practices of WBE
National Policies on WBE
National Projects on Virtual Universities
International Projects and International Collaboration on WBE
Academia-Industry Collaboration on WBT
Corporate WBT
Web-Based Methods and Tools in Traditional and Distance Education
Faculty Development on WBE
Dot-Com Educational Institutions and their Impact on Traditional Universities
Funding Opportunities for Projects in WBE

LOCATION

CATE/WBE 2003 will be held at the Rhodes Palace Resort Hotel in the beautiful
resort city of Rhodes, Greece. Rhodes (Rhodos or Rodos in greek), means
“the beautiful island of roses”, and has a unique physical scenery that does
not cease to impress its visitors. Also unique is its climate with more sunny
days than any other place in Europe. To experience the majesty of Rhodes,
walk up the cobblestone streets past austere guildhouses to the massive
Crusader's Fortress. Or head out through orange and olive groves to the
Acropolis of Lindos spectacularly set overlooking the bluest of seas.

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

Submit your full paper via our Web site at
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/2003/greece/submit-402.htm

Files larger than 2MB must be submitted to our FTP site at www.actapress.com
(user name: actaftp; password: Journals1). If you submit a paper to our
FTP site, please send a notification e-mail with your contact information
to calgary@iasted.com. All submissions should be in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf),
Postscript (.ps), or MS Word (.doc) format. The IASTED Secretariat must
receive your paper by February 1, 2003. Do not send hard copies of your
paper. Receipt of paper submissions will be confirmed by e-mail.
Please provide four key words to indicate the subject area of your paper.
One of the key words must be taken from the list of topics provided under
Scope.

If you are submitting your paper to the Web-based Education Symposium,
please indicate “WBE” as one of your keywords. Include a statement in your
cover letter confirming that if the paper is accepted, one of the authors
will
attend the conference to present it. Please designate a principal author, and
provide the full names, affiliations, addresses, telephone and fax numbers,
and e-mail addresses of all authors.

Notification of acceptance will be sent via e-mail on March 15, 2003.
Registration payments and final manuscripts are due by May 1, 2003. Late
registration fees or paper submissions will result in the papers being
excluded from the conference proceedings. Please send final manuscripts
via the Web or FTP site using the same procedure as described above.
The formatting instructions for final manuscripts can be found on the Web
and must be strictly followed. The page limit for final papers is six pages
(single-spaced, double-column, 10 point Times New Roman font). The additional
page and paper charge is USD $75.00/page.

TUTORIALS

Proposals for half-day tutorials (three hours) should be submitted online by
February 1, 2003, via the following Web site address:
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/2003/greece/tutorialsubmit-402.htm

A tutorial proposal should clearly indicate the topic, background knowledge
expected of the participants, objectives, time allocations for the major
course
topics, and the qualifications of the instructor(s).

SPECIAL SESSIONS

Persons wishing to organize a special session should submit a proposal to
the IASTED Secretariat by March 01, 2003. Proposals should include a
minimum of five papers, a session title, a list of the topics covered, and
qualifications of the session organizer(s). The name of the session organizer
will appear in the program and proceedings provided five papers are
presented.
Special sessions proposals should be submitted by email to
calgary@iasted.com .
More information on special sessions is available online at the following
hyperlink address:
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/2003/greece/sessionsubmit-402.htm .