ShadowRAM: iPods, mobiles 'essentials' for schoolkids?

COMMENTARY: Rumours, truth and innuendo


iPods, mobiles "essential" for schoolkids?

Looks like there’s something in the water over at non-profit IT and communications company education.au.

In a report compiled by the group for the ACT Department of Education and Training, the folks at education.au believe that portable devices like iPods and mobile phones will become essential pieces of equipment that every student at school, TAFE or university will need to own, rather than disruptive devices that should be banned from educational settings. Huh? Which devices would they be?

The Shadow is a bit lost here.

Surely there’s nothing more disruptive to the learning process than a school kid listening to his or her downloaded tracks on an iPod during exams. Even worse, taking calls and sending text messages on their 3G phones during class while mum and dad get slapped with the bill!

Something’s a miss here. The Shadow can’t imagine ACT schoolteachers encouraging mobile phone use in the classroom.

Gerry White, CEO at education. au says, “It’s starting to happen, but it will be some time before the technologies students are using as a matter of course are also a regular part of their formal learning experiences”.

Apparently in the education future, the MP3 player will not look like the current generation of devices -- they could look more like a memory stick with a rollout screen and have a memory capacity five times today’s ceiling of 60GB. This is enough to carry a student’s lifetime of notes, assignments and presentations, along with songs, audio books, photos and movies. Oh Please! When will MP3s ever be learning devices?

Speaking of iPods, those crazy kids at UK site The Register have found the ultimate iPod accessory dubbed the “Muff Dock”. 

Our friends at www.muffdock.com (yes this product is available in Australia), describe the product as a “Bean bag for your iPod” and “now your iPod can relax and recharge in style in its very own bean bag’. The Muff Dock’s "unique design allows you to use your existing power cord while keeping your iPod well supported in an upright, comfy position”, Muff Dock.com says. And there’s also a whole range of “fresh muffs” for willing iPod users to choose from. Ooooo baby!


IT's Laurel and Hardy

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, a former McNealy minion, recently did their best “Laurel and Hardy” routine at the Sun-Google non-event.

Not only did they lavish praise on each other regarding what great visionaries they were in their younger days (to drive the point home, the backdrop was two huge oversized photos of the leaders with entrepreneurial Doer’s Profile vital stats), they also gave each other gifts.

McNealy gave Schmidt a starter kit for the deal, including a Sun server and StarOffice. Schmidt gave McNealy a lava lamp. Wonder which will end up being more useful?

When asked by our intrepid reporter what this means to Sun’s channel partners, McNealy replied, “That Sun is back”. Asked whether this means Sun is going to push StarOffice more aggressively, McNealy said, “We already do” (news to us).

Finally, when we noted some partners think there is not enough support, McNealy replied: “If there are any complaints, have them call me directly, and I’ll get it taken care of”. Is that the sound of a phone ringing?


Wi-Fi in the dictionary

Now it’s official: wireless technology has hit the mainstream. Merriam-Webster just added Wi-Fi to the latest edition of its collegiate dictionary.

In case you’re wondering, Wi-Fi is defined as a certification mark “used to certify the interoperability of wireless computer networking devices”.