Facebook IPO and news that has come with it

The Facebook craze continues to amaze me. I do have an account and I do use Facebook to catch up on one of my good friends who lives in Austria and my family who lives out of state, but I find I check up on my old high school or middle school friends less and less. In the last two weeks I've even gone so far as to delete all of my pictures I've uploaded in the past to Facebook. The privacy scares and issues that seem to spring up nearly monthly have me nervous as do the news reports that more and more employers and professional groups regularly check Facebook for personal background information. Yes, I had all my settings locked to only certain friends, but I don't make time to check the settings frequently enough to ensure things are still locked down. In a New York Times article I read this quote from a young Facebook user that I felt summed up Facebook pretty well and expressed why I'm trying to phase it out of my life: "Facebook is amazing because it feels like you’re doing something and you’re not doing anything. It’s the absence of doing something, but you feel gratified anyway." How can something that allows its users to feel like they're not doing anything, and be happy while they're doing it, make $3.7 billion dollars last year? Amazing.

Plagiarism and how Amazon's tools impact it

I just heard a story Sunday evening on NPR about the impacts the current ease of publishing presents us. The story opens with an author of erotica finding herself being undersold by an e-book with an oddly titled name. When she does a little investigation, it turns out this other book contains exact plagiarisms of Dracula.  Another author who sells his work on Amazon found his work was being plagiarised and sold on Amazon with another author and title. When he contacted Amazon to let them this know it was happening, Amazon did nothing. I realize that plagiarism and intellectual theft happens, just see all the angry people when a file sharing website is closed down. But it had never occurred to me that a major retailer like Amazon would also be selling plagiarised work.
Something else to consider when buying online!

Isle Royale National Park Wolf-Moose Study

This evening I heard an interesting story on NPR about the longest continuing study known in the world following the food chain between prey and it's predator. The study is has been going on for more than 50 consecutive years. In this case it is the study of wolves and moose on the Isle Royale National Park in the Northwest section of Lake Superior. The study sounded interesting and the scientist who spends several weeks in the snow. I really perked up when I heard that the scientist, John Vucetich, maintains a blog for the New York Times. Mr Vucetich discussed how they fly every day to look for moose kills and areas where wolves have mated, as well as both live wolves and moose. It sounded like an interesting study and I might keep up on this blog, while I'm wrapped in a blanket in my non-snowy home.

Do you have or want to have an iPad? Why?

Many times when I ask this question I hear, "So I don't have to carry around my laptop," or "Because my current computer is old and slow and this is the new way." I'm always flummuxed by these answers. I am a laptop lover, I can't remember the last time I went into a meeting or a class to take notes manually. At work I always have my laptop with me. I enjoy being able to take notes, pull up the database, run a SQL query and shoot off a quick email with a question while in a meeting or waiting somewhere. At home, my laptop is for homework, managing my bills, and doing research, mostly on the internet. Thus, when people tell me they want an iPad to replace their laptop, I can't agree because I can't imagine managing this much using just a touch screen.

I'm currently taking CSE 687 Mobile Technology in Education. The main focus of this class is gaining a general mastery of the iPad, thinking of ways we could use this in the class or for other teaching endeavours. In the time I've had the iPad, I've enjoyed using it for our assignments, but I have been frustrated with my inability to use my finger and flick or double tap exactly where I mean to. It makes me realize how difficult it must be for those with big fingers, arthritis or another another ailment that makes very specific hand movement difficult. I've missed my mousepad on my laptop. Desparately. Turns out I'm not the only one. Scott Stein from CNET posted a review of the iPad titled Why my iPad can't replace my laptop: It's the trackpad and he expressed some of the same frustrations I've had with using the iPad.

If you have an iPad, how do you use it (beyond playing the most popular game of the moment)? What is it that I'm missing?

Off topic blog

In this wet weather, I've found my dog to be even more humorous and ridiculous than he normally is. He is a shaggy Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and is an absolute clown. I tell people he's the dog Jim Henson would have made, if he made dogs and not puppets.
Here's a video of my dog with his head out the window, in pure doggie happiness, cruising down I-5 on a recent winter's day, complete with shaggy fur a-flyin!

Below are a few still images of other Wirehaired Griffons, without their head out a car window.

  

An oldie from 2009, but still valid?

I found a blog about self-absorbed blogging today and it echoed much of my frustration and head scratching I've encountered when reviewing blogs (none for this class of course!). I think blogs with a purpose, perhaps one regarding the dog park a group is trying to build in Independence, Oregon (which we are, but I don't think we have a blog yet) or one written by a teacher that helps supplement other course content and stimulates class conversations. But other blogs that are publicly available discussing personal woes or triumphs, without a clear purpose for communication, I don't understand.

Is there a spell check for comments gadget?

Has anyone found a spell check that can be used for the comments section of a blog in the gadget world? I thought of this today. There's a spell check I can use when posting a new blog, but there doesn't seem to be one for the comments sections. As someone who has always been a bad speller and someone who types fast but makes typos, I think this gadget would be very useful.