• The U.S. Justice Department has ruled that jailbreaking phones is legal, as long as the software and devices were all purchased legally.  The also ruled that the text-reading services on eBook readers (designed for the blind) are not illegal. Bravo U.S. Justice Department. Read more here. [via @eplybon]
• In case you wondered where the name @busynessgirl came from, here’s the explanation.
• Apple launches another magical product today (a little joke at Apple’s expense after the launch of the “Magic Trackpad” … their name, not mine).
• The effects of a good Kindergarten teacher might not be seen by the time a student is in high school, but there are startling correlations with success later in life.  Go read The Case of the $320,000 Kindergarten Teacher and see for yourself. [via @marcparry]
• College students foolishly interpret Google rankings as a measure of validity – in other words, if it’s the first link on the search, it must be the most-trustworthy.  The article “So-Called Digital Natives Not Media Savvy” goes on to say that college students don’t trust Wikipedia as much as they used to.  [via @Chronotope]   Ask yourself:  Which is preferable, trusting Wikipedia or trusting the #1 Google search rank?  Unfortunately, the study does not compare “students” to the “general population” who may, in fact, believe the exact same thing.  In fact, the general population could very well be more trusting in Google than the students.  I think more research needs to be done here.

Great Quotes

• “Done with 3rd “shiFt” calculus.” from @sartormi in reference to the fact that students tend to do their homework late at night and into the wee hours of the morning.  The first time, the F was missing (LOL).  Now when I stay up late grading papers I’m going to refer to it as 3rd-shift Calculus too.
• From Wired Magazine’s Epicenter: “… iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, “selfish elites.” Those who are critical of the iPad tend to be “independent geeks.”  Before you dismiss this as standard Apple-hate mongering, consider the survey size, 20,000 participants.  Also, as the article points out, us “independent geeks” could just be achieving some kind of “free-thinking” status with our independently geek-minded peers by having an opinion that is not signed, sealed, and delivered by Steve Jobs.  If only we had an extra $500 and were forced to sit in an apple store for half a day, the article suggests we would probably join the Apple-borg too.  You probably just ought to go read the article and decide for yourself.
• “On the Apple site, the error messages reveal something of their culture: An error occurred processing this directive.“ from @beng
• “iQuit” – what the apple assisted suicide machine would be called, from @cherylcolan (who is, for the record, a happy Apple user)
• “Math teachers might have more success if they cleverly disguised their classes by claiming they were about Game Design.” from @IanSchreiber.  My response? Amen.
• “Teachers have the right to live in a cave. They do not have the right to drag students with them.” from @gret.

Events

The MCC Math & Technology Workshop will be August 9-13, 2010.  I am looking for offsite math folks willing to lead (or participate in) a play session for 4-5 instructors in WizIQ (free) on Thurs, August 12 at 1:30pm EDT. Help?

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