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Blog entry from Rob Cormack - MS Integrator at ISB Beijing.

RSS, podcasts, screencasts and more. How can you stay on top of them all? The November Learning team has designed a series of handouts that can make any user comfortable with the latest technology tools. Each of our instructional handouts can be read, printed and passed out as needed. Use these in your next professional development session

Interesting link/stimulus to TOK.

XMLFiles.com provides web developers with a basic introduction to programming in XML, XML DTD, XML DOM, XML XSL, XML RSS and ASP.NET. Learn how to create basic XML programs from XMLFile.com's expert tutorials and example code.

"The Internet affords anonymity to its users, but it is also behind the explosion of cybercrime that has swept across the Web."

Good article on the computerization of medical records. Gives examples of some of the challenges that were faced, as well as the benefits of implementing such a system. Might also be useful for the 2010 Case Study.

"The most popular corners to catch a yellow cab in Manhattan can now be pinpointed, at any hour of any day of the week, thanks to a record of 90 million actual taxi trips that have been silently tracked by the city.....the information, collected by GPS, can be used to create helpful tie-ins for customers, like a new smartphone program that lets mobile users locate the ideal nearby corner to hail a cab."

Discussion of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, examining the challenges that face the project and asking whether equipping every child with a laptop really is the solution to poverty. Nicely balanced, unlike many articles on the OLPC.

"While participation in social networks is still strong, a survey released last month by the University of California, Berkeley, found that more than half the young adults questioned had become more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago "

"The researchers asked what could happen if a hacker could gain access to the network of a car, said Tadayoshi Kohno, a University of Washington computer scientist. He said the research teams were able to demonstrate their ability to circumvent a wide variety of systems critical to the safety of drivers and passengers. "

"A growing number of schools across the nation are embracing the iPad as the latest tool to teach Kafka in multimedia, history through "Jeopardy"-like games and math with step-by-step animation of complex problems. "

"On Wednesday night, in advance of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, iHealth Labs, a start-up in Mountain View, Calif., unveiled the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock, an attachment for iOS devices that can measure and record heart rate and blood pressure. The kit, which costs $100, comes with a blood pressure cuff and a battery-powered dock that doubles as a charging station for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The hardware is available for sale in Apple retail stores, through Apple.com and on the company's Web site. The kit also requires a mobile application to log the results, which is available for free through iTunes."

FORT BENNING, Ga. - War would be a lot safer, the Army says, if only more of it were fought by robots. Smarter Than You Think Government Issue Articles in this series are examining the recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics and their potential impact on society. Previous Articles in the Series » Multimedia Interactive Graphic A New Generation of Robotic Weapons RSS Feed Get Science News From The New York Times » Enlarge This Image David Walter Banks for The New York Times REMOTELY CONTROLLED Some armed robots are operated with video-game-style consoles, helping to keep humans away from danger. And while smart machines are already very much a part of modern warfare, the Army and its contractors are eager to add more. New robots - none of them particularly human-looking - are being designed to handle a broader range of tasks, from picking off snipers to serving as indefatigable night sentries.

"Now that Google has conquered a majority of the earth's major streets with its Google Street View project, the company is starting to move inside. It's creating the Google Art Project, a virtual equivalent of 17 major art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Britain and National Gallery in London, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among many others. Amit Sood, director of the project, said in a company blog post that the documentation of major museums began when a small group of Google employees with a passion for art started wondering how they could make major art museums, and the works they house, more accessible to people worldwide."

"Even though a hard drive with a terabyte (or 1,000 gigabytes) of storage can hold thousands of photographs, songs and movies and costs less than $100, storing your files in a distant commercial data center, encrypted and secure, increasingly makes more sense. Cloud backups are appealing for another reason: as computing becomes more mobile - on laptops, tablets and smartphones - you need to have reliable access to the data anywhere over an Internet connection. "

"Still a new generation of Web sites like Dscover.me, Sitesimon.com and Voyurl.com is banking on our willingness to take that next step toward taking our lives public: namely, by automatically tracking personal browsing histories for public viewing. "

"Now, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, "e-discovery" software can analyze documents in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost. In January, for example, Blackstone Discovery of Palo Alto, Calif., helped analyze 1.5 million documents for less than $100,000. "

"Because many of today's cars contain cellular connections and Bluetooth wireless technology, it is possible for a hacker, working from a remote location, to take control of various features - like the car locks and brakes - as well as to track the vehicle's location, eavesdrop on its cabin and steal vehicle data, the researchers said. They described a range of potential compromises of car security and safety. "

"In many countries around the world, if you break the law by stealing copyrighted content you can be sentenced to prison and heavily fined. But if Google catches you breaking copyright laws ....You're forced to take an online class at YouTube's Copyright School."