#Quick Key integrates with SIS Powerschool for data flow Quick Key, the mobile assessment software that targets student performance and aims to eliminate hand grading,
has announced a collaboration with Pearson through an independent software vendor (ISV) partnership agreement that hopes to help educators quickly score assessments using Quick Key mobile scanner app
and instantly upload results to the Powerschool student information system. uick Key and Powerschool are a perfect match,
said Kyle Hansen, Powerschool Administrator at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork, Utah. hen I found Quick Key last year,
tracking and analyzing student assessment data has become truly effortless. he integration enables educators and administrators to take action based on real-time data,
to identify which students need help and which lessons need to be taught re. Hours previously spent hand-grading assignments can now be spent focusing on how to best meet individual studentsneeds. ntegrating Quick Key with Powerschool is a testament to our belief in service,
collaboration and quality tools that truly work well in classrooms, said Walter O. Duncan, 15-year veteran teacher and cofounder of Quick Key Mobile. his collaboration puts the power of teaching back into the capable hands of teachers.
Powerschool the most widely used web-based student information system, supports more than 13 million students globally.
Powerschool enables today educators to make timely decisions that impact student performance while creating a collaborative environment for parents,
teachers and students to work together in preparing 21st century learners for the future. e are pleased to welcome Quick Key to the Powerschool ISV Partner program,
said Oliver Wreford, vice president of product and marketing at Pearson School systems. uick Key integration with Powerschool provides a solution that puts formative assessment results into the hands of educators in near real-time,
enabling them to immediately analyze student performance and make informed decisions about ongoing student instruction.
Powerschool users will be able to access their Quick Key Dashboard from within the Powerschool dashboard, and vice versa.
Data, including class rosters and student assessment scores, can be transferred easily from one platform to the other.
Districts can implement Quick Key without upgrades and the mobile app can be used without Wi-fi. Quick Key Team Management
and Quiz Sharing features allow district and school administrators to deliver standards-aligned assessments to all teachers within their district
while ensuring the security of answer keys i
#Cardiac microchip provides advance warning of future heart problems A potentially lifesaving microchip has been developed to forewarn patients suffering from heart problems of any deterioration in their condition.
Reg Youngman is one of the first to try the microchip. A tiny micro sensor has been inserted into his pulmonary artery,
which monitors his heart function. Everyday he is scanned and his data is sent to his hospital and medical team,
if there is any indication of a problem the doctors identify it and take appropriate action.
Mr Youngman says the technology is reassuring: ou have more faith and trust. People are looking at,
watching me and I feel safer. Because in the past I never knew quite when something was going to hit me badly
and when it did, it was had usually, it gone too far and hit me really badly. he Cardiomems sensor is implanted next to the heart during a minimally invasive procedure using a cardiac catheter,
which is passed up to the heart through a vein in the leg. Once in place, the device,
which has no battery or replaceable parts, enables monitoring of changes in blood pressure in the pulmonary artery,
which is a good indicator of a worsening heart condition. Professor Martin Cowie is a Cardiologist ith some patients it very tricky to get the balance right.
Theye walking a tightrope. Too much fluid, too little fluid, too much treatment, too little treatment, so wee really hoping that this little chip will help us add science to that
and get a better idea of what happening for each individual patient and keep them out of hospital. octors are able to spot any downturn in the patients condition before symptoms rise to the surface.
The device allows those suffering from heart complaints to remain at home knowing that doctors can keep an eye on them n
#Solar-powered schoolbag life-changer for South african pupils Nine-year-old Kamogelo is one of many school children living in impoverished communities in South africa affected by power cuts.
But the creators of the innovative solar powered schoolbag he is carrying are hoping it will help change things.
Made from recycled plastic, it features a solar panel in the flap which charges as the children walk to and from school as well as strips of reflective material,
to make the wearer more visible in the dark. Once the pupil gets home, he removes the solar panel
and screws it onto a solar jar that can last up to 12 hours, allow him to do his homework even during power cuts. t helps
me a lot when there is no electricity because I take the lamp and use that for lighting
in order to read and do my homework, he explains. The Repurpose Schoolbags as they are called are the brainchild of a pair of young entrepreneurs from Rustenburg on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
At the factory where they are made, the plastic sheets are cleaned first and processed to make them malleable enough to create the bags.
The design and look is also important, and the bags come in a variety of bright colours for every taste. heye happy to have a school bag.
I remember with the first handover one of the kids cried and I was like his is a bit emotional.
The parents are coming and saying y child is able to do workand teachers are coming in saying omework is now being done.
So I think we are affecting all spheres of a child life if I can put it that way,
says cofounder Rea Ngwane. The pair say the company is growing to meet demand and they are planning to launch a luxury brand to help subsidise the schoolbags.
They also want to expand to other countries in Africa where access to electricity in poorer communities remains a problem m
#Powerful MRI SCANNERS could predict diseases Cutting-edge technology, designed to delve deeper into the human body, has arrived at a research centre in Portugal.
The ultra-high field MRI SCANNERS are around ten times more powerful than current models. hese new machines will allow scientists to make a very early diagnosis of cancer
and many neurological diseases, explained euronews reporter Claudio Rocco, outside the Champalimaud research facility in Lisbon. ut, in particular,
they will allow them to delve into the complexity of the human brain, an organ that so far essentially unknown. he scanners are rare due to production complexities.
The most powerful machine is so strong that its magnetism is enough to lift a lorry.
In the future, diseases could be predicted in advance. n the normal scanners, the spinal cord is too blurry and we don distinguish too many fine details.
Champalimaud Foundation. here are some very important diseases of the spinal cord, like multiple sclerosis. So when the diseases begin,
there are some microstructural changes in the spinal cord. For example, the diameter of the cell can change,
if the person is going to have a disease or not, or if he is in an early stage.
to carry out comprehensive analysis of some brain diseases, the brain has to be cut and examined after death.
during depression. epression is a widespread disease. It one of the major causes of disability worldwide.
And one of the main problems of depression is that currently there is no way for clinicians to guide a treatment selection,
Potentially in the future it will be useful for clinicians to select treatments and better diagnosis depression. ore precise diagnosis,
and at a faster speed, would make a big difference in medicine. Targeted treatments could come sooner
#Bitcoin price plummets as investors flee the currency Bitcoin prices have been taking a beating since the new year,
the currency fell to $267 by Monday, Jan 12. Then, in the past 36 hours, prices fell completely off a cliff,
with the currency currently priced at $178. 67 at Coindesk. Currently, there no explanation for the enormous price drop over this short period of time,
but the ripple effects are already hitting miners. Mining hash rates dropped precipitously initially and while theye since risen again, theye still well below early January rates.
The problem, for Bitcoin, is simple: there are prices at which the majority of mining operations are not possible.
In the beginning, it was GPUS that drastically increased BTC mining capability and kept the operation profitable,
followed by FPGA and ASICS. As more and more people bought ASIC miners, operations began to shift further, from private residential complexes to huge cloud networks.
These large-scale mining operations managed to further reduce costs by centralizing operations and paying lower utility rates.
When we published the results of our major Bitcoin study last year, we noted that BTC tended to be deflationary
and that prices should generally rise when mining rates increased. One of the assumptions of the underlying model
however, was that the intrinsic costs of mining BTC would establish a consistent price floor.
The advent of new business models, like cloud mining, allowed companies to dodge this bullet in the short term by shifting to business schemes where the marginal cost of operation was lower
and profitability was greater, even at a constant price per BTC. With the price in free-fall,
however, several cloud-based BTC operations have announced already they intend to suspend operations for at least some period of time.
This will reduce the rate at which difficulty increases, since fewer miners=smaller difficulty hikes,
but it won automatically solve the problem. The same cloud mining installations that have leveraged the lower cost of commercial power
and taken advantage of aggregation are going to face monthly rents and fixed costs that need to be met.
That means these facilities may have to continue mining, even at a loss, in order to cover some portion of their costs.
Unfortunately, this continued mining could now actively work against a BTC recovery. As sell volumes spike relative to buy orders,
continuing to push more coins into the market risks triggering further sell offs as demand has yet to stabilize relative to supply.
What this means for Bitcoin long-term is unclear. There are undoubtedly some operations that will continue mining
even at a loss, for some period of time, but the currency cannot continue to be mined long-term if the costs of doing
so do not rise above the marginal cost of power. While this isn the first significant course correction for the currency,
the fall off since January 2 now puts BTC nearly 50%off its opening volume and it been over a year
since we saw a hit that large
#Google#s Project Ara update: New partners inductive data transfer and cutting-edge battery tech Ever since Google Project Ara debuted,
consumers have been interested in the possibility of a customized smartphone with hot-swappable modules and varying functionality that can be changed on the fly depending on the user needs.
Today, Google gave a major update on where the program is and where it headed through 2015.
Right now, Google is focused on building what it calls the Spiral 2 device, a new version of the hardware that will include multiple modules, greater flexibility,
the option to swap out the battery while the device is in low power mode, and the opportunity to use multiple antennas for better signal sourcing and multiple carrier support.
Spiral 2 also shifts from FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) to ASICS specialized application-specific integrated circuits with superior performance
and generally lower power consumption compared to FPGAS. Spiral 2 still has some problems with signal degradation over the long term
and an issue with the framework used to attach the various modules. Google is reportedly working on induction signaling,
with a 150-micron gap between components that will prevent the wear and tear that comes with repetitive switching back and forth.
These improvements will come with Spiral 3 which adds additional RF field improvements as well as shown below.
Project Ara roadmap Google also laid out the Project Ara longer-term roadmap through 2015,
including plans for an eventual market test in Puerto rico by the end of the year.
Spiral 3 will add the Rockchip reference design, an LTE 4g modem, an Android release, packaging
and decorating improvements, and an updated framework for software development that meant to make it easier for both software
and hardware developers to build their projects. Google also talked up the concept of giving new and unusual battery designs a forum to experiment with Project Ara there are battery technologies that offer substantial improvements over conventional lithium polymer architectures
but either cost too much for typical inclusion into smartphones or have specialized other requirements. Some of these could be met within the Project Ara modular concept,
and Google wants to see the platform used for prototyping and market testing. Longer term, the goal is to create an initial pool of some 20-30 modules,
including some of the options shown above. Google didn go into detail on what a ollution sensormight be,
but it possible to include a carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other types of smoke detector modules in a smartphone platform.
A Project Ara device could conceivably include multiple modules to scan for various types of atmospheric contaminants
along with an LTE modem to report their prevalence at specific locations. Google has stressed the goal of creating an entire ecosystem around this concept rather than simply throwing it to the consumer-wolves,
which implies that the device could at least find targeted applications in specific markets or spaces where its customizability are a selling point.
It not clear if the wider consumer space will take to the device (this will likely be cost-dependent)
but the modular nature could prove popular with enthusiasts and hobbyists who want the ability to customize a phone for particularly long battery life or with specialized sensors.
The ability to use multiple antennas could also prove useful for globetrotters if the phone can be equipped with a sufficiently flexible LTE radio to allow for a truly global device.
If the Puerto rico tests go well, Google intends to move forwards with market availability in the 2016 timeframe 0
#In wake of Paris terror attacks UK Prime minister proposes ending secure communication The recent terror attacks against The french satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have rocked the international community. UK Prime minister
David cameron has used the tragedy as an impetus to call for programs that could make end-to-end encryption illegal in the UK, the grounds of national security.
Cameron specific comments call for laws that would guarantee that there is no method of communication the government could not intercept n extremis.
The Conservative party leader told journalists that he remained committed to strong data gathering and retention policies
noting that the government has retained always the ability to intercept letter or phone traffic, and that he viewed it as essential that the UK be able to intercept email and online traffic as well.
Cameron has been a strong supporter of the UK internet filtering campaigns and has pushed ISPS to adopt policies that require every single household to choose
whether or not to receive a filtered service as quickly as possible, despite the well-known problems that filter systems have
when it comes to blocking pornographic content versus. factual sex information and support groups for teenagers and adults alike.
Cameron exact comments were: That is why, in extremis, it been possible to read someone letter. That is why, in extremis, it been possible to to listen in to someone telephone call This cannot happen
unless the home secretary personally signs a warrantthe question remains, are we going to remain a means of communication where it simply isn possible to do that?
The difficulty of locking down communication The problem with Cameron statement is that he seems to be proposing one of two things:
That law woulde required companies to retain information regarding users for a period of at least 12 months,
#Google throws nearly a billion Android users under the bus refuses to patch OS vulnerability When it comes to providing security updates for previous products,
Some, like Microsoft, tend to provide security updates long after theye stopped selling an operating system (Microsoft only stopped providing WINDOWS XP support last year.
Others, like Google and Apple, have pursued tighter timelines for security updates. Google is now doubling down on that schedule,
refusing to patch bugs in Android 4. 3 or prior, even when those bugs could expose critical vulnerabilities on nearly a billion devices.
The flaws in this case affect Android 4. 1 to 4. 3, aka Jelly bean, which began shipping in mid-2012
and was the primary version of Android through late 2013, or roughly 14 months ago.
Up until quite recently, Google has patched aggressively problems in Android Webview rendering engine. Before Kitkat (Android 4. 4
all versions of Android used the version of Webview found within the Android Browser for rendering HTML webpages.
With Kitkat and Lollipop, Google updated the operating system to use a Webview plugin derived from its Chromium project.
When Security firm Rapid7 discovered a new exploit in the Android Browser version of Webview,
it contacted Google to inform the company that Android 4. 3 and below were vulnerable.
Google response and policy change are raising major eyebrows. Specifically, the company states that: If the affected version of Webview is before 4. 4,
we generally do not develop the patches ourselves, but welcome patches with the report for consideration.
Other than notifying OEMS, we will not be able to take action on any report that is affecting versions before 4. 4 that are accompanied not with a patch.
Google will onsiderthe patch to see if it resolves the problem. If they don, Google now says the only thing it can do is inform various OEMS of the problem.
What Google is doing in essence, is telling its user community orry, you have to tell Samsung, LG,
and Motorola to provide you with an updated version of our operating system. This is hilariously impossible.
It would never fly in the PC WORLD imagine Microsoft telling customers orry, you have to make HP, Dell,
and Lenovo provide you with a free update for our operating system. The disparity is even larger
if you consider that, in most cases, a computer running a previous version of Windows can be upgraded by the end user to run the next version.
That upgrade may be a headache but system requirements on Windows haven budged in nine years.
The average phone or tablet buyer has no way to upgrade their operating system unless the carrier provides an OTA update,
and two-year upgrade cycles means that plenty of people are going to be stuck on broken devices with known exploits that Google isn going to fix.
Granted, the fact that Google fixes an exploit doesn mean that carriers will deploy it,
and fragmentation has been a major problem in Android ecosystem over the years but there a difference between acknowledging the difficulty of maintaining security updates for the entirety of one user base
and flatly refusing to do them. Pushing OEMS off open-source Android One obvious reason for Google to stop fixing Android Browser problems is that the company is aggressively moving to get OEMS to stop using Android open-source features
and to replace them with features licensed directly from Google. Ars Technica has done an extensive write-up on this trend here,
and getting rid of the Android Browser is a key facet of moving away from an Android that actually maintained and useful.
No, Google isn killing Android it just ensuring that the only parts of the program that get feature updates, capability improvements,
and performance enhancements are the parts that require licensing agreements and promises not to develop competing products.
The reason Amazon Kindle Fire has its own app store and Samsung continued interest in Tizen are both the result of Google push to embed itself into the center of mobile business
while paying lip service to the idea of open source. By throwing all of the responsibility for security updates back on carriers and security researchers,
Google is telling OEMS that they can either agree to its licensing terms and fall in line,
or take on the responsibility of performing security updates that theye typically not qualified or funded to do.
It a trick worthy of Microsoft in the Bad Old Days, and it particularly funny to see the company doing this,
given that it threw Microsoft under the bus in December when it published the full details of a security flaw two days before Redmond patched it,
on the grounds that the desktop and laptop OS company wasn moving fast enough S
#Wireless power system charges devices up to 20 feet away A plethora of firms are racing to develop a feasible method for delivering power wirelessly,
but thus far the best wee managed are short-range standards like Qi and PMA. A company called Energous is on hand at CES with a demo of its new wireless power system known amusingly as Wattup.
It uses a mix of Bluetooth and RF to combine the convenience of wireless power with the security of a wireless network.
If it all pans out, Wattup could juice up your phone from up to 20 feet (6. 1 meters) away.
The heart of Wattup is a hub that basically a powerful RF transmitter station. Devices that want to receive power from the hub announce their presence via Bluetooth 4. 0. Wattup then uses that connection to direct the wireless power signal to the device.
It operates in the same unlicensed spectrum as Wifi, which makes me wonder about possible interference in busy wireless environments.
Assuming the connection holds, though, the Wattup signal is absorbed and converted to DC power in the phone or tablet by a receiver chip.
Whenever youe sending an electromagnetic signal through the air, you have to worry about signal drop-off as dictated by the inverse square law.
The gist is that signal strength decreases at a rate equal to the square of the distance.
For example a device twice as far away from a source only gets one-quarter of the energy.
Some experiments in long-range wireless power have forced simply brute their way through this problem to the point that they actually heat up the air around the transmitter.
Wattup combats this problem with a type of beam-forming technology. That Bluetooth connection is used to focus a tight cone of electromagnetic waves on the target,
and it can even track the device and recalibrate as needed. A standard Qi wireless charger is about 90%efficient,
but Energous claims it can hit 70%at much greater distances. Energous also has proprietary technology that can hand off the task of providing power between multiple hubs
just like your phone can transfer from one cell tower to the next to maintain a connection.
The intention is to build a Wattup transmitter that is tied into the state of your devices.
So when you get home, the system begins charging your phone. When it detects that the phone is full,
but maybe your tablet is getting low from an evening of couch computing, it switches automatically to recharging that one.
It could also connect to wearable devices or anything else if they have a receiver. Wattup also takes into account one of the drawbacks of wireless power you don usually think about:
security. If youe got a wireless power base station that can blast energy 20 feet away (improved from 15 feet last year),
there could be a lot of devices in range, not all of which are yours. You can secure your wireless network against outside access,
so why not your wireless power network? The Bluetooth tether that is used to direct beam-forming can also authenticate devices.
Wattup can operate in protected mode where only authorized devices can connect, or in public access mode where anyone with the hardware can soak up some electrons (controlled via an app).
The company hopes to license the technology to device makers soon. The hardware required on the phone side is cheap,
so it might gain some traction. However, the energy routers will probably be a substantial investment,
especially considering most homes would need more than one
#Virtual reality comes to the desktop thanks to HP and Zspace The first time I donned a pair of special glasses
and picked up a wired stylus to enter a virtual reality was over 25 years ago.
It required extremely expensive hardware, and only allowed for a simple, low-resolution, experience of machining a part on a virtual lathe.
But we were all sure that practical applications were just around the corner. It has taken much longer than most of us predicted,
but with its new Zvr display, HP is bringing to market a practical and useful VR tool for educators,
scientists, and other professionals that need to have simulated accurate interactions with computer-generated models. The heart of the Zvr (if youl forgive the pun) is a special-purpose display from VR startup Zspace,
which incorporates four cameras for head-tracking, a fully gyroscopic stylus that allows for both precise pointing and true 3d manipulation of objects,
and a 3d display that uses special glasses. HP is also offering Zview software for the sharing of 3d content suitable for use on the Zvr.
I got to use the Zvr to manipulate a model of a human heart and was able to quickly and easily select different portions of the heart,
I could imagine how powerful it could be as a learning tool for fields that require a detailed understanding of complex physical objects, such as anatomy or mechanical engineering.
or Microsoft Kinect, suffer from a lack of precision, especially when it comes to twisting and turning objects using motions of your wrist and hand.
or sculpt a clay statue using both hands. HP and Zspace are positioning the display primarily for science
and technology related disciplines especially for teaching them. The high-resolution display and 3d manipulation require a fair amount of compute power.
You need an HP Z-series (or similar) workstation to run it. Along with its large size
that means it is not suitable for any type of mobile application. The viewing angle is limited also very.
when I stood behind the person seated at the display I didn get any of the 3d effect.
the virtual heart on the display popped into a nearly holographic 3d form. HP and Zspace have not announced a price or exact availability date,
but they expect it to be in the market this spring. I sure it will find a home at quite a few high schools and colleges
but its ultimate success is likely to be tied to whether the VR it brings to the classroom
and the lab is worth the price w
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