PLN 17

I just watched a video about the Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2 that showed the new type of Space travel. This new space ship is said to make space travel available to thousands of people and much more affordable. I think this is unbelievable. Over time space travel will be just as common as airplanes. When I saw this video I thought of myself on this ship because there is a very good possibility that one day space travel will be extremely available and open to everyone. The video is only a simulation of what they believe the craft will do. Virgin Galactic's first attempt with Spaceship 1 didn’t go perfectly to plan but the idea that they had worked great. These spaceships were made to get out into space, which didn’t work in Spaceship 1, but on its way down to Earth it turns into just a glider plane, this worked very well. Virgin Galactic made many changes and improvements to Spaceship 1. When they get these spaceships perfect they will be available for anyone who want to travel into space. One of the designers of the “space plane” says that everyone should have the opportunity to experience space travel one day. This ship is making that claim very possible in the very near future.

PLN 16

I just watched the video, “Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense,” which talks about a new device that can give you information about anything infront of you and much more. This device is made up of a camera, a projecter, a mirror, a phone, and colored caps on your fingers. You can interact with this projected data by simple gestures. To take a picture, you can just make the frame with your hands and the device will take the picture. Finding ratings on books or annotations on that book is as easy as having it infront of you. When meeting someone new the device shows words that describe the person and gives you lots of information about that individual. The device is completely portable and can project on any surface, including your hand if need be. The system can recognize a product and give a green, orange, or red light for your own personal likes. This device is extremely technologically advanced and is still a work in progress. This sixth sense seems to be more advanced “Google Goggles” that has access to lots more information. Information comes easily and with this device it will only get easier.

PLN 15

I just watched the video introducing the new iPad from Apple and I am amazed. The iPad is essentially a thinner, faster, better touch screen laptop computer. Although it isn’t all that much different from an iTouch or an iPhone it is much more than that. When I was watching this video I thought about what if students had one of these for their schoolwork? If we didn’t get distracted easily this would be a great idea. It would save paper and all our work would be in one place and would be very fun and easy to use. The iPad is just another example of how technologically based our world is. I use my phone all the time and am on the computer a ton. I am always listening to music and every once in a while, take some pictures. My problem is that to do all these things I need three or four devises. If I had the iPad though, all these things would be in one place working at the same time. I could be texting someone, listening to music, on Facebook, looking at my pictures, and doing homework essentially at the same time. I just think that is amazing. My dad walked in while I was watching the video and was just blown away and talked to me about how fast our world has advanced technologically. The iPad is being released April 3 for $499 each.

PLN 14

“Sometimes This Stuff Still Amazes Me” by Karl Fisch talks about how fast information is spread and how easy it is to communicate these days. He talked about how he tweeted a question and extremely quickly had plenty of answers. Lately if we have a question there are so many ways to get the answer it is unbelievable. I typed “Schools in Colorado” and in 0.43 seconds there were 328,000,000 results. I can find that much information that quickly and easily? Information is so easy to come by these days and yet we take advantage of it. Some people think that computers are a waste of time and money and we should not use them in education. A computer just gave me access to all the information I would ever need about schools in Colorado and yet they are a waste of time and money? Our world is extremely technological and has become that way in only a couple decades. I know my parent’s generation see an Ipod, a Iphone, or a Hybrid car and talk about how they didn’t have that when they were born. I like to figure out how things work and think about what goes into making it, and I can never even imagine how people invented and created the internet. So much information that is so accessable to everyone. Yes there are some problems with that like Identity Theft and situations like that but the majority of the people that use the Web are responsible and use it correctly and for the right reasons. I can't wait to see what happens with technology and the internet in the future. With what has happened in our world recently, who knows what is next.

PLN 13

In the article by Karl Fisch, “Google Apps for Education: Is it the Right Choice for Our Students?” what matters is that many people believe that education through Google Apps is a good idea and an effective way to learn. I agree with this. I think that this way of learning would be better because information would always be available to students. Many students including me tend to forget books or assignments in their locker and with this new way there would be no problems with that. This also made me think of the video “2020 Vision” by Mr. Fisch because he says that Google is going to have an online college and this is a small step in that path. I think that it would be cool to learn by Google Apps and I would not be surprised if that started to grow in the next couple years. The one problem i see in that plan is that Google Apps might replace many teachers which would not be both good for our economy and for teachers already employed. Then of course Google would create jobs. I think it would be a great idea to learn by Google Apps.