BM Research - Africa will have its first location in Nairobi, Kenya in collaboration between the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) through the Kenya ICT Board. It will conduct basic and applied research focused on solving problems relevant to Africa and contribute to the building of a science and technology base for the continent.   "IBM's commitment to undertake the proposed research agenda will contribute greatly to our national priorities as part of Kenya's Vision 2030," said His Excellency Honorable Mwai Kibaki, President of Kenya. "We look forward to delivering world-class research and innovation as part of IBM's Smarter Planet initiative and playing an important role as an IT leader on the African continent." 

"Local programmers and homegrown business models are helping to realize the vast promise of using phones to improve health care and save lives."

"everal years ago now, I bought a Nazbatag:tag. You know, the internet-connected rabbit? It looks all anime and flashes colors and reads you RSS feeds. It has been relaunched in a third iteration as Karotz. Ever since that rabbit has sat on my desk, announcing the time or occasionally making an appearance at a talk or presentation I give on education technology, I can't help but think he was a little ahead of his time. People still hadn't grasped what it meant to have computers in things that didn't have screens. But, with the launch of Ubi on Kickstarter the other day I sense people are starting to understand the Internet of Things."

"Au cours de mon enseignement, notamment en sciences et en géométrie dans l'espace, je me suis aperçue que pour certains élèves ces notions étaient plus qu'abstraites. Le recours à des objets réels a permis de dépasser certains obstacles mais pas dans leur globalité. Depuis toujours attirée par la réalité augmentée, je me suis penchée sur sa possible utilisation en classe pour que l'ensemble des élèves accède à la pleine compréhension des compétences à acquérir."

"Le projet de la Maison des technologies de formation et d'apprentissage Roland-Giguère (MATI Montréal) a vu le jour en 2000 grâce à une donation de la Fondation J.A. De Sève et un partenariat de recherche et développement entre l'Université de Montréal, HEC Montréal et l'École Polytechnique. Elle constitue aujourd'hui une composante essentielle du pôle scientifique et technologique, connu sous le vocable de Technopole-Montréal. MATI Montréal a pour mission de développer des connaissances, des méthodes et des outils pour l'utilisation des TIC dans l'enseignement et l'apprentissage des sciences, des mathématiques, du génie, de la gestion et des disciplines connexes."

Code for America helps governments work better for everyone with the people and the power of the web. Through our Fellowship, Accelerator, and Brigade, we're building a network of cities, citizens, community groups, and startups, all equally committed to reimagining government for the 21st century.

"Drawing on an entirely new set of original research conducted with countless collaborators in fields such as healthcare, science, education, energy, government and the media, we tell the stories of some of the world's most dynamic innovators, from a global citizen's movement working to reverse the tide of disruptive climate change to for-profit startups that are turning industries ranging from music to transportation on their head. We argue that collaborative innovation is not only transforming our economy but all of society and its many institutions. Now the onus is now on each of us to lead the transformation in our households, communities and workplaces. After all, the potential for new models of collaboration does not end with the production of software, media, entertainment and culture. Why not open source government, education, science, the production of energy, and even health care?"

""If you look at the current crisis, we have the irresistible force for reducing the cost of government meeting up with the immovable rock of public expectation that government should be better, not worse," Mr. Tapscott told me. "Tinkering with this will not work. When you are talking about cutting trillions of dollars, that's not trimming fat, that is tearing out organs, and we don't need to do that, and we don't want to do that." "We need to fundamentally rethink how we orchestrate and create government value," he said. "And now we have a burning platform, which could help us do it." Mr. Tapscott's latest book, "Macrowikinomics," co-written with Anthony D. Williams, suggests some ways to do that. One of his favorites is releasing government data. That information, he said, can then "become a platform on which private companies, civil society, other government organizations and, crucially, individuals, can self-organize to create value.""

"A Google spokeswoman said that promise of wireless Internet connections refers to systems it will install at more than 400 locations around the city for free. Google promised the free hookups for locations to be determined by officials in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., as part of the agreement in setting up its network. The two cities have, as part of the same agreement, given building space to the company and assigned staff to fast-track permits for the construction of the Internet service."

"The healthcare industry is experiencing off-the-charts growth in data generation. Growing numbers of clinical solutions generate more data every day--including electronic medical records, communication systems, and digital image archiving. On top of that,  wearable sensor networks compile information on patients' heart rate, brain activity, sleep patterns, temperature, muscle motion, and numerous other clinically useful data points. This enhanced ability to capture data from everywhere generates massive sets of information. This information is invaluable for healthcare and modern clinical practices--as long as we can manage it properly."

"Schools in developing countries are experimenting with digital books; endless titles, spotty electricity"

n 1921, psychologist Carl Jung changed the fundamentals of his field. By distributing a psychometric test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to patients, Jung claimed he could accurately boil down the psychological types of humans into 16 major categories. Still in use today, the metrics determine whether test takers tend toward certain character traits, such as introversion (I) vs. extroversion (E) or thinking (T) vs. feeling (F). Once taken, test results produce an acronym per individual. For example, "ISTJ" is for an Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging person.

The effective implementation of the "One Laptop per Child" program was not enough to overcome the difficulties of a design that places its trust in the role of technologies themselves. The use of technologies in education is not a magic and rapid solution through which educational problems and challenges can be solved with the simple acquisition of technological devices and systems.

Satyamev Jayate, one of India's highest-rated television shows, is using data as a means to effect meaningful change. The show's producers are aggregating and analyzing the millions of messages they receive on controversial issues to do everything from planning future episodes to pushing for political change.

"Les platines ? C'est dépassé ! Mixer en digital, avec son corps, et en projection murale : voilà à quoi pourrait ressembler le travail d'un DJ du futur. C'est en tout cas le surprenant concept qu'explore le V Motion Project, une collaboration entre des designers, des programmeurs, des musiciens et des animateurs réunis autour de l'agence digitale Assembly : ici, grâce aux capteurs de mouvements de la Kinect, le corps d'un danseur devient un instrument de musique par la magie d'une nouvelle interface.  "

Les nuages de tags permettent de visualiser un texte sous forme d'image typographique qui mettent en avant les termes récurrents d'un texte. Sur Internet quelques web services vous permettent de générer de bien jolie images. j'en ai trouvé 4 auxquels j'ai soumis la page d'accueil du Blog, Je vous les présente en quelques mots et captures d'écrans.

"Ce qu'on qualifie de "télémédecine", ça n'est jamais que de la communication à distance entre soignants et patients. Bien sûr, ça ne remplace pas une relation de soins en face à face, pour une raison simple : le soin, c'est aussi du contact physique (mettre un pansement, prendre la tension, insérer un implant, etc.). Mais une partie du soin consiste à informer et à répondre aux questions. Et cela peut être fait à distance, par téléphone ou par courriel. De plus en plus de médecins de première ligne répondent aux courriels de leurs patients. De plus en plus de sites sont ouverts aux questions (souvent courtes) des internautes et leur donnent des réponses succinctes, mais utiles. C'est faisable, ça ne remplace pas une consultation quand on en a besoin, mais ça permet de ne pas s'inquiéter pour rien et de ne pas perdre de temps (ni en faire perdre au médecin) pour de simples informations."

"Qu'Internet soit là pour rester n'est plus une nouveauté mais bien une réalité indiscutable. En ce sens, les entreprises et les institutions doivent elles-mêmes profiter de l'occasion pour communiquer de façon plus humaine, transparente et proche avec ses prospects. Les secteurs de la consommation, du commerce et du tourisme évoluent avec confiance, monopolisant tous les regards dans le grand bal du 2.0. Toutefois, les organismes liés à la santé restent dans l'expectative, attendant le bon moment pour entrer en scène."

"L'Audit Bureau of Circulations ( ABC ) a publié mardi les résultats chiffrés d'une étude sur les comportements d'achat des lecteurs à l'égard des deux formats de magazines : le traditionnel papier et son pendant digital. Etonnement, la part de l'édition numérique reste très dérisoire sur ce marché en dépit de son développement."

Kickstarter can be a blessing to artists and entrepreneurs-sometimes too much of a blessing. Earlier this year, a slew of crowd-funded projects received money that was an order of magnitude more than requested. Such windfalls can turn a dream into a nightmare: They often bury ill-prepared creators and lead to manufacturing delays, lawsuits, defective products, and irate backers. Here are a few projects that got slammed with excess success.