jsPerf.com lets you write two equivalent ways to accomplish something in JavaScript and it then measures how fast each method is in every browser you run the test in. Other people’s performance tests can be browsed here Browse test cases. Taking a look at a specific test could show data where you might want to […]
We’re pleased to see that Education Week has featured our Evolution Readiness project. Their recent article describes evolution teaching efforts and describes the significant results our project has found in helping students as young as 10 years old learn about natural selection. We’re pleased to see continued attention to this important topic. Check out the […]
Evolution Readiness is featured in Education Week’s November 16 article “Efforts to Improve Evolution Teaching Bearing Fruit”.
Noticed this past week that EdWeek’s Teacher Magazine had run a special column aggregating chat room comments about an issue particularly close to our heart: The difficult problem of school firewalls. The list of comments is quite interesting to read, as it pulls from both sides of the issue. As software designers for things we […]
Though it happened a while ago, it’s still worth a farewell nod: Sony announced a couple weeks back that the final cassette Walkman will roll off its assembly line soon. Sigh. Next thing you know, they’ll stop making Polaroid cameras, too. Oh, wait… (At least you can still get film for them.)
A new Web site permits you to hurtle asteroids and comets into the Earth to see what havoc you can create. The cool thing is that it uses an impact calculator created in 2002 for use by NASA and the Department of Homeland Security. Check it out at Impact: Earth and get ready for your […]
Every great story deserves an equally great ending. In that vein, I was thrilled to read that Mikal Hart’s wedding present to his college friend has finally been opened. The story lasted a year, and involved the first instance I have encountered of reverse geocaching. Put simply, Mikal turned the notion of geocaching — in […]
I love this. Nigel Leck, a software programmer, got bored with constantly responding to climate change skeptics on Twitter. So he built a chat agent to do it for him. The agent scans every five minutes for set phrases connected with tropes about why climate change isn’t caused by man. Then it automatically chats from […]
At the NSDL Annual Meeting last week, we got to see the usual great lineup of opening and closing speakers. One of the regulars by now at this meeting is Julie Evans, from Project Tomorrow. They do the great annual Speak Up surveys of schools that really tell us how students and teachers are using […]
I just saw Objectified this weekend, and highly recommend it. It’s a great hour and 20 minutes with some of the best design minds on the planet, including superstars like Dieter Rams from Braun and Jonathan Ive from everything Apple. It’s wonderfully put together as the second part of a design trilogy from Gary Hustwit […]