Apple kicks Google Maps off iPhone, adds Facebook

Steve Jobs’ vendetta against Google remains alive, eight months after the Apple co-founder died feeling betrayed by a company he once embraced as an ally, the Associated Press reports. Apple is escalating the feud between two of the world’s most influential companies by dumping Google’s mapping service as a built-in feature on most iPhones and iPads. Apple is also making it easier for users of those devices to share their lives on Facebook instead of Google’s competing social network. The snubs are part of an upgraded mobile operating system that Apple previewed Monday to kick off its 23rd annual developers conference in San Francisco. Google’s mapping service will be replaced by an Apple-designed alternative when the new software for mobile devices, iOS 6, is released this fall. Those who want to continue using Google Maps will have to go through additional hurdle, such as finding and installing its app…

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Web literacy: Where the Common Core meets common sense

“To ensure that students learn the grammar and strategies of the web, we believe it’s essential for every teacher to develop lessons that challenge students to learn how to verify sources,” the authors write.

(Editor’s note: This is Part Two of a series of articles on developing web literacy among students. To read Part One, click here.)

Are you as worried as we are that the overall impact of technology on our children’s ability to solve complex research problems is negative? Have you heard a child near you say, “Just Google it,” when asked to describe the meaning of life?

Research shows that students primarily use one search engine and then only look at the first page of results. They can quickly give up or settle for something “close enough” when they don’t find the information they’re looking for. Huge amounts of time are being wasted in searches void of the rigor of research.…Read More

Google creates a spectacle with ‘smart glasses’ project

Google's Project Glass opens a new world of possibilities—and challenges. (AP)

If you think it’s hard to keep students’ attention in class now, just wait until everyone starts wearing Google’s futuristic, internet-connected glasses.

While wearing a pair, you can see directions to your destination appear literally before your eyes. You can talk to friends over video chat, take a photo, or even buy a few things online as you walk around.

These glasses can do anything you now need a smart phone or tablet computer to do—and then some.…Read More

Government urges more info on kids’ apps

The FTC is especially aggressive protecting the privacy rights of children.

Who is monitoring the apps that kids use on their phones? The government complained Feb. 16 that software companies producing games and other mobile applications aren’t telling parents what personal information is being collected from kids and how companies are using it.

Apps could quietly be collecting a child’s location, phone number, call logs, and lists of friends, said a report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC blamed the companies that make the apps, and the online stores that sell them, for failing to explain where that information might be recorded, for how long, and who would have access to it.

“As gatekeepers of the app marketplace, the app stores should do more,” the report said. “This recommendation applies not just to Apple and Google, but also to other companies that provide a marketplace for kids’ mobile apps.”…Read More

Google to merge user data across more services

Google said it talked to regulators about the upcoming privacy changes, which it will apply worldwide.

Google announced a plan Jan. 24 to link user data across its eMail, video, social-networking, and other services that it says will create a “beautifully simple and intuitive” user experience. But critics raised privacy concerns like those that helped kill the search giant’s Buzz social networking service.

The changes, which take effect March 1, will remove some of the legal hurdles Google Inc. faces in trying to link information across services from Gmail to YouTube to the Google Plus social network that replaced Buzz.

More than 70 different company policies are being streamlined into one main privacy policy and about a dozen others. Separate policies will continue to govern products such as Google’s Chrome web browser and its Wallet service for electronic payments.…Read More

New version of Gmail coming soon

A new version of Gmail featuring a revamped look, redesigned conversation threads and improved search is slated for pending released, according to an official video that was mistakenly posted to Google’s YouTube channel, Mashable reports. Jason Cornwell, user experience designer for Gmail, unveils the new version in the video. The Google Operating System blog spotted the video and it has since been made private — but not before YouTube user crlsndrsjmnz had time to repost it. “Oops, you weren’t supposed to see that,” Gmail representative Andrea Freund tells Mashable. “Stay tuned, we’ll be sharing more info on Gmail’s new look soon.”

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‘Google effect’ leads to changes in memory

A new study suggests people will forget information they know they can locate at a later date.

New research reveals that if people expect something to remain easily available, they are more likely to remember where they found the information than the information itself–but if they don’t think it will be easy to find again, they are more likely to remember the information. The findings could have huge implications for teaching and learning as instruction moves from traditional classroom stereotypes, such as memorization, to a more collaborative, mobile learning experience.

Columbia University researcher and psychologist Betsy Sparrow was watching the 1944 movie Gaslight one evening and wondered who the actress was playing the maid. So she reached for her computer and Googled it.

That set Sparrow to thinking: before the internet, how did we answer these questions?…Read More

Google Docs does the wave

Do you miss Google Wave? Judging by the adoption rate of that ill-fated service, probably not, reports the Washington Post. But for those who were fans of Google’s attempt at … whatever Wave was … Google Docs has made some practical, Wave-like changes today that you’ll appreciate. Comments now appear as streams and with timestamps and user profiles. You can add people to the conversation by using @mentions, as you do in Twitter. The new features also work with your e-mail so you get notifications about discussions in Docs and can reply from eMail. In a blog post explaining the changes, Google engineer Nick Cooper said that the features will only be available in new documents for those users who have the company’s new “rapid release” track for Google Apps…

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Is Google’s Facebook competitor almost ready?

The press has been speculating since the middle of last year about a new social networking product from Google — its big attempt to compete with Facebook, SocialBeat reports. Now, some recent upgrades to Google products suggest that the company is advancing with its social plans and may be laying the groundwork for the big launch. The main news was Google’s update of its social search service, a feature that has been relatively underwhelming until now — it allowed users to share and annotate links, but Google literally marginalized the feature by pushing it to the bottom of the search results. Starting now, however, Google said social results will be mixed into the rest of its links, making them more prominent. Google is also improving those annotations by pulling in content from other social networking services — for example you can see when one of your friends has tweeted about a link…

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Google makes ed-tech splash with apps marketplace

Google's education app marketplace begins with 20 options.

Google opened an Apps Marketplace for educators Jan. 25, creating an online repository filled with learning management system (LMS) software, web-based grade books, and other content that can be shared among an entire school district or college campus with the click of a button.

The Apps Marketplace’s education category will start with 20 applications from 19 companies, according to Google’s official blog, and the applications can be integrated with existing app accounts, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google docs.

Using free applications from Google’s new selection—which includes spelling and grammar tutorials and bibliographical management tools—could help educational technology officials avoid installing and updating software on dozens or hundreds of computers in a school or on a college campus.…Read More

Google working on phone with built-in payment tool

Google Inc. is taking another stab at designing a game-changing mobile phone, this time by including a built-in payment system that eventually could enable the devices to replace credit cards, reports the Associated Press. The new phone got a brief preview Nov. 15 when Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage to kick off the Web 2.0 summit, a technology conference held annually in San Francisco. Schmidt confirmed that Google has been working on a sophisticated new computer chip and an upgrade of its Android mobile operating system that will include a payment processing tool. He showed off the new phone with the device’s name and manufacturer concealed. Several technology websites have speculated the new phone will be called “Nexus S” and will be manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. The new phone will feature a Near Field Communication, or NFC, chip that will enable phones to transmit the payment information of the device’s owner to vendors using compatible technology. The transactions will be completed by tapping a physical point, such as a payment terminal or other objects encoded with the information needed to complete the purchase. Schmidt said the chip will be more secure than the magnetic stripes that carry personal information on credit cards, an advantage that has been greeted enthusiastically by payment processors…

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Google launches contest to encourage kids to code

The Google Open Source Program is announcing a new computer programming outreach effort, aimed at 13- to 18-year-old students around the world, ReadWriteWeb reports. Google Code-in will operate in a similar fashion to Google’s Summer of Code, an internship program for college students—giving middle and high school students the opportunity to work in open-source projects. Google Code-in will match students to mentoring organizations and will give them a chance to do real-world development on open-source projects. Tasks for participating students can include writing code, creating documentation, training others, testing code, and more. For each task successfully completed, students will receive $100, up to a maximum of $500. What’s more, all the students participating in the program will compete for a grand prize—an all-expenses-paid trip for the student and a family member to visit the Google campus. Applications for the contest will open Nov. 22…

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