Group items tagged

Will historical records be lost due to lack of standards in hardware/software leading to issues with access to past data?

An overview of the computer used by Stephen Hawking to communicate despite the disability ALS causes him. Includes details of the hardware, software, and communication systems used.

Revision notes on hardware, software, and networks basics. Designed for GCSE but a useful first step for students who have limited technical experience.

Skin-input devices! A rather interesting if somewhat bizarre look at one type of future input device: the human skin...

An article detailing Intel's planned migration from Windows XP to Windows 7. Covers many pertinent points including 64-bit computing, legacy application compatibility, issues with new OS security features, and so on. A good insight into the problems faced in real life organizations during large-scale roll-outs.

"In Plain English" series of videos. These are no longer available on YouTube but can be seen here. A variety of topics are covered including Hardware, Software, Phishing, Blogs, and Wikis. Very clear explanations in a fun style.

A detailed study of the Therac-25 radiation overdose accidents. Rare but easily avoided software bugs in the Therac-25 cancer treatment machine caused six accidents and three deaths. Additionally, many of the stakeholders contributed to the problem through their action or inaction. The fact that the machine was in service for 3 years without error, yet then killed 3 people in two years, gives an interesting insight into how we define "reliable". This case provides an interesting focus for a debate on reliability, dependency on IT, and responsibility for failures. These pages contain a HUGE amount of detail and so I would recommend summarising them for students - especially ESL students. However, if this is done a lively debate can definitely be had.

An article about the use of biometrics to authenticate gun owners. Weapons come with fingerprint sensors built in and will fire only for the authorised owner. The article also covers some of the problems of biometrics - the system claims to be 95% accurate - which is still not enough for use by the military or police officers.

"About 6,000 students in Norway are doing exams on their laptops in a trial that could soon be rolled out across the country."

This looks interesting also for Paper 2. Perhaps you could add a tag 6.0_paper_2 Madeleine

With e-readers like Apple's new iPad and Amazon's Kindle touting their vast libraries of digital titles, some bookworms are bound to wonder if tomes-on-paper will one day become quaint relics. But the question also arises, which is more environmentally friendly: an e-reader or an old-fashioned book?

"March 21, 2009 - This is a Cnet Tv Prizefight in high-definition between the Amazon Kindle 2 and the Sony Reader PRS-700."

A comparison of the two products for education.

"April 17, 2009 - This is dedicated to all fans of Queen. No effects and no sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800xl and Floppy Drive 0$ 3.5 Inch Hard Drive 1$ Adaptec 2940UW SCSI Card $5 TI-99/4A and Tape Drive $15 8 Inch Floppy Drive $20 HP ScanJet 3C $25 Eico Oscilloscope $28 1,000,000 Hits on YouTube - Priceless"

"February 11, 2009 - Here is the review for the new Amazon Kindle 2, Amazon's new e-book reader and the successor to the highly popular Amazon Kindle. This new e-book reader from Amazon is more lightweight, features more shades of grey and has a slightly different interface, better battery life and more memory for storing e-books. "

ICT Company of the Year - BETT Award 2010