The newest catchphrase in online education is social learning. Several start-up companies have begun offering cloud-based platforms that combine education and social media. Companies like Teamie, based in Singapore, provide software that lets teachers create, share and manage academic content, and also let students collaborate on assignments on platforms that are similar to the “walls” used on Facebook.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/world/asia/schools-go-into-the-cloud-to-embrace-the-popularity-of-social-media.html?_r=1

When IBM loosened its restrictions on the smart phones and tablets its employees could use for work, the company got a lesson in IT management of the kind it usually sells to clients. In 2010, like many large companies in recent years, IBM adopted a “bring your own device” policy, meaning that employees who want to work outside the office don’t have to use a smart phone provided by the company. Although IBM still gives BlackBerrys to about 40,000 of its 400,000 employees, 80,000 other workers now reach internal IBM networks using other smart phones and tablets, including ones they purchased for themselves. The trend toward employee-owned devices isn’t saving IBM any money, says Jeanette Horan, who is IBM’s chief information officer and oversees all the company’s internal use of IT. Instead, she says, it has created new challenges for her department of 5,000 people, because employees’ devices are full of software that IBM doesn’t control.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/40324/?p1=BI

Ever since Facebook announced its $1 billion acquisition of the company behind the popular photo-sharing app Instagram last month, the question on every nerd’s lips has been: What will be the next big thing in mobile apps? For many, the answer is video. Apps like Viddy and Socialcam have picked up steam, gaining users—including pop stars Justin Bieber and Britney Spears—who are shooting and sharing videos with others within the apps and on social networks. Like Instagram, many of these apps also include a number of effects you can use to give your videos an edge, such as filters and background music.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/40429/?p1=A2

New Scientist’s Jim Giles calls attention to this freaky fact: that in the future–the rather near future–our interfaces with our gadgets may be our own bodies. “Left your phone at home again?” he writes. “A solution is at hand: make sure it is with you at all times by having it implanted in your arm.” That’s certainly a way of having a solution at hand, so to speak. This is pretty much no longer the realm of science fiction, according to researchers at the Canadian software company Autodesk. The team embedded, somewhat grimly, a button, LED, and touch sensor in a cadaver’s arm. Each element worked just fine when under the skin–Bluetooth connection and wireless charging even worked through the skin.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27862/?p1=blogs

Google’s account recovery procedure can make it unclear to users that they’re giving hackers full access to their account. A technique used by marketers to trick people into signing up for “free” merchandise could easily be re-deployed as an engine for harvesting untold numbers of Google account passwords. Fixing the issue won’t be trivial for Google, because the exploit is fundamental to how Google allows users to recover access to their accounts when they lose or forget their passwords. While others have reported on the use of this exploit by individual hackers, I believe what you’re reading now is the first account of how it could be transformed into a mass phishing scam that could dragoon even relatively sophisticated users.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27863/?p1=blogs

Just a couple of weeks ago, we discussed a Chinese experiment in which physicists teleported photons over a distance of almost 100 kilometres. That’s almost an order of magnitude more than previous records. Today, European physicists say they’ve broken the record again, this time by teleporting photons between the two Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife off the Atlantic coast of north Africa, a distance of almost 150 kilometres. That’s sets the scene for a fascinating prize. Both teams say the next step is to teleport to an orbiting satellite and that the technology is ripe to make this happen.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27864/?p1=blogs

Scientists at Newcastle University have developed a computer game designed to help stroke victims recuperate. The Circus Challenge game, created with a computer game studio, aims to help patients recover motor functions. Players use wireless controllers to perform virtual circus acts such as lion taming and plate spinning. It is hoped the PC-based game will serve as a cheaper and more effective alternative to existing treatments, with patients able to play at home. The project received a £1.5m grant from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund, a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, to allow further development.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-18102299#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Researchers have revealed details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip. The device is a “memristor”, a long-hypothesised but only recently demonstrated electronic component. A memristor’s electronic properties make it suitable for both for computing and for far faster, denser memory. Researchers at the European Materials Research Society meeting now say it can be made much more cheaply, using current semiconductor techniques.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18103772#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Apple’s iPhone 5 is more than likely going to hit store shelves in the coming months. According to the latest rumors, the device will probably be available at some point this summer, since Apple’s orders of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 units have started to dwindle. Assuming that’s the case, Apple will unveil the iPhone 5 at the Worldwide Developers Conference next month. When that device is unveiled, customers can expect a number of nice features, according to the rumor mill. Everything from a bigger display to 4G connectivity is currently in the works, according to reports. Apple’s iPhone 5 might just be the very best handset the company has launched to date. Whereas the iPhone 4S was a nominal upgrade over its predecessor, the iPhone 5 will likely be an entirely new generation of the popular handset.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/iPhone-5-Design-10-Features-You-Can-Count-On-669718/?kc=rss

The University of Rochester Simon School of Business and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced winners of the first Watson academic case competition. The competition is a way to develop new ideas for harnessing IBM Watson technology to solve societal and business challenges while helping students advance technology and business skills for jobs of the future. It also is part of a series of competitions for students studying a variety of academic concentrations. Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of scientists to accomplish a grand challenge –a computing system that rivals a human’s ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBMs-Watson-Challenges-U-of-Rochester-MBA-Students-878029/?kc=rss