Austrailia: Content Aggregators, Hosts Liable for User-Created Content

Google has recently lost an appeal in a case against it for defamation in Australia. The suit alleges that Google is guilty of defamation for allowing sites hosting content which contained rumours that Michael Trkulja was involved in organised crime to appear in its search results. This sets a precedent that content aggregators like search engines and RSS feed compilers could be used against their operators in lawsuits. How might this affect the technology you use in your classroom? Click the link to the source article below for the full story.

Source: The Verge

Armando Ferreira: Microsoft Surface RT vs. Google Nexus 10 (Update)

YouTuber Armando Ferreira has begun a new video series detailing the pros and cons of the newest tablets from both Microsoft and Google. Update: Parts 2-5 have now been embedded after the break.

Google's Transparency Report: Government, Companies Issuing Lots of Takedown Requests

Google's transparency report for the first half of 2012 reveals a sharp increase in the number of takedown requests by governments and companies. See the full report at the source link below.

Source: Google Transparency Report

Google Fiber Begins to Go Live

Google announced its plans to get into the Internet Service Provider business earlier this year and advertised connection speeds up to 1000 Mbps for $70 per month--a price commonly tacked-on to much, much slower connections. The first lucky neighbourhood in Kansas City is already getting its service installed and turned-on and one Google Fiber customer has commented stating that he is already receiving speeds of 600-700 Mbps.

This is a massive leap forward for the Internet--Google has been making strides to make strong, fast connections available and affordable. Currently, customers in the area can get a 5 Mbps connection for free for seven years.

Source: The Verge

Armando Ferreira: Apple iPad Mini vs. Google Nexus 7

YouTuber Armando Ferreira takes a look at the pros and cons of the two most prominent small-size tablets on the market today. Is price truly the biggest difference between the two, or is there something more?

Motorola Xoom: a Powerful Tool for Education

A new article from The Verge discusses findings by OLPC and the MIT Technology Review, detailing the effect crates of slightly modified Motorola Xoom (Android 4.1) tablets made on the education of two villages in Ethiopia. See source for the full article.


Source: The Verge

IDC Finds Chromebooks Substantially Cheaper than Alternatives

The IDC has published an evaluation of Chromebooks in an educational setting titled "Quantifying the Economic Value of Chromebooks for K-12 Education" has found that Chromebooks are cheaper in every aspect: from the three-year total cost for systems ($1472 for alternative versus $488 for Chromebooks) to the annual IT labour hours required to maintain the machines (2.68 hours versus 0.23 hours).

You can access the full report via this link.

Source: Google

Google: A Brief Look at Chrome OS

The recent announcement of the $249 Samsung Series 3 Chromebook has piqued the interest of many with its low price and great utility. Additionally, Google has made large strides in classrooms, where extremely low IT costs compared to similar products offered by Apple and Windows OEMs become a humongous advantage where every dollar counts.

In the video, a Google representative gives a brief guided tour of education's up-and-coming operating system.

See Also: Bringing Chromebooks to Every Classroom

Betanews: Chromebook vs. Surface in the Classrooms, iPad Out of the Picture?

Technology has become so critical to the classroom that teachers are constantly left wondering what schools will be provided with next for their word-processing and Internet-based research needs. For some time since the release of Apple's iPad, a emphasis was placed on smaller, more portable devices that students could use when and how they needed to. Derrick Wlodarz of Betanews argues, however, that the conversation of educational technology has shifted away from Apple iPad and onto Google's Chromebooks and Microsoft's Surface.

Click the source article for more.

Source: Betanews.

The Verge: iPad Mini Pricing is a Concern in the Classroom

The Verge's Bryan Bishop talks about Apple's new iPad Mini, a smaller 7.9" version of its larger 9.7" cousin, the iPad announced earlier today. The new Apple device is priced at $329 for the entry-level model with 16 GB of storage space. However, in a world where a similar device offering comparable services with a better screen, the Nexus 7, a 7" Android 4.1 based tablet sells for $200 on the Google Play store, it's hard to justify the purchase of a device with so high a premium, even if Apple is making an effort toward better support for education with their latest updates to iBooks. See the full story at the source link below.

Source: The Verge

Social Networking Classroom? Welcome to Google+

In the video below, YouTuber Marques Brownlee shows off his top five reasons that Google+, the social network designed and operated by, as you might have guessed, Google is awesome.

In particular, Google+ Hangouts is a powerful tool that can be used effectively for online classrooms of 2-9 people. Small, yes. But powerful--and, best of all, it's free.