Quicksilva thoughts...

I have always wondered how effective group revision is online and the statement given by The Sun clearly shows it.

Yes, the internet is easy to access and doesn’t require you to travel to your nearest library or your friend’s house but it can be a real distraction.

While the press are using Facebook as a scapegoat, there are other social networking websites that should be blamed - MySpace, Bebo and Friendster. But why blame them as the main cause for the poor results? Surely the students are also responsible for their poor performance.

If the students of today lack the discipline to do well in their academics, then this could potentially affect their future career.

Quicksilva thoughts...

There is something quite concerning about the concept of your surgeon interacting live with Twitter users’ from all over the world…at least it would concern me if I was the one on the operating table.

Granted, it is likely that the patients’ will have given their permission before going under the knife during live broadcasts but one can only help but feel that there is something inherently wrong (not to mention potentially dangerous), with surgeons interacting with Joe public on a social networking site. This is not the opinion shared by some, including one source who writes “We hope that the series will de-mystify surgery and help viewers to understand their own bodies.”

This is a fair enough statement to make but for the sake of ‘educating’ curious Tweeters’ about their bodies, I feel that this is a step too far by television broadcasters and participating surgeons alike.

Quicksilva thoughts...

Do you remember where you were the day you first used Google? Altavista seemed perfectly good at the time, and name 'Google' sounded, well, a bit wobbly. After a couple of parallel searches I never used Altavista again, I'm not sure if it is even still there?. . It is. I wonder if that was a statistically significant hit for them?

The switch to Google was a global phenomenon, and many people have been thinking, perhaps even hoping, that Google's fall would be as swift as its rise with the sudden arrival of a new 'killer app' sweeping all before it. With WolframAlpha's debut making the headlines it seemed as if another Kennedy/Diana/9-11/newSearchEngine life-changing moment was upon us, but one quick check showed that was not going to be the case - and to be fair the system designer Stephen Wolfram on Radio 4's Today programme was a pains to point out that Alpha is not intended to compete with Google. Rather than trawling through static information to then point you at, like Google, Alpha works only with computable systematic knowledge (height, weight, distance) and works out the result from basic data.

So, for example "how dense is copper" will give you a definitive answer, "how long is a piece of string" will not. Given the solid underpinning of Wolfram's experience with products such as Mathematica used throughout academia, I have to say I would trust Alpha's version of copper's density more than an unknown web page. As well as giving you a result Alpha also shows you its interpretation of your input. 'Blue light' is interpreted as "Blue (surname) | Light (surname)", whereas 'red light' is "Red Light (movie)". Google returns something rather different.

Quicksilva thoughts...

Flash, the most popular method for streaming video over the Internet, has been optimised for use as an embedded technology within television sets. This is a move to bring Internet TV to everyone's home; though there are many people who via their computer, are already enjoying the thousands of channels available from all over the world. Recent interest in this medium has been fuelled by quality online programming through the services of: BBC iPlayer, 4 On Demand, SKY Player, etc.

Soon, there will be the potential to create websites specifically for TV, essentially opening up the broadcasting arena to anyone who has something to offer. This is good for competition and good for choice. By utilising the existing Internet, TV can become much more versatile than the digital switchover offering, which was at the expense of overhauling existing TV networks. Imagine from your telly: watching a sketch about the airspeed velocity of a swallow and then switching to a factual site to find the answer; hiring a film immediately after reading positive reviews from independent sites; sharing home videos amongst friends... maybe not.

In addition to broadcasters, it is conceivable that there will be companies that concentrate on services designed to find content and manage your interaction with the TV. The winners in this market will be those that offer ease of use and provide you with what you want to watch.

Quicksilva thoughts...

After the massive success of the Nintendo Wii, it looks like Microsoft are trying to capture some of the success of the Wii’s motion sensing controls. However, it looks like Microsoft are taking the concept one step further introducing a collection of biometric sensors.

Being a big fan of the Wii the introduction of interactive gaming with another console is an exciting prospect. If the rumours are true gamers could be looking forward to playing games which map their features on to characters, which recognise facial changes and allow them to interact and manipulate their environment.

So I for one will be looking forward to the expo next month to see if any announcements are made by Microsoft in this area.