Students, Laptops, Lots of Fun

This is an oft discussed topic on teknoids, so it is interesting to see that are larger issues here than whether or not a CivPro lecture is interesting enough to keep students from bidding on eBay during class.

Laptops in classrooms not working out as hoped
Some professors have responded to the prevalence of networked computers in class by changing their teaching styles. The University of Houston’s Prof. Adams, for instance, now peppers his lectures with enough questions to reduce students’ Web surfing. When he is discussing a particularly complex subject, he says, he tells students to close their laptops.

RoundCube: AJAX Webmail

Slashdot | Open Source AJAX Webmail
“It seems AJAX webmail is all the craze. Right on the heels of both Microsoft and Yahoo launching beta versions of their new AJAX webmail clients, an Open Source startup RoundCube has released an alpha of a GPLed AJAX webmail client. While there are still many features missing (like search!), the demo they have is completely cross-browser compliant and overall very impressive.”

VOD + DVD = Killer App?

I would go for this. I would also go for the opportunity to buy a DVD of the movie I just saw in the theater on my way out the door. I’d probably own a lot more DVDs if I could do that.

Slashdot | Pay-Per-View to Provide DVD After Viewing?
Comcast is entertaining an idea that would allow digital cable customers to purchase a pay-per-view movie for roughly $17 that would also include a hard copy in the mail a few days later. From the article: “The only snafu in the entire idea is the fact that only 40% of Comcast cable subscribers have the required digital box at this point in time. But still, that is 40% of 21 million customers which is not too bad. DirecTV and Dish, are you listening?”