Monday, January 25, 2010

Interesting links 25 January 2010

Last week’s big news on Twitter? Bill Gates is now using it. Yes, @BillGates is now on Twitter. And he has a new website at www.thegatesnotes.com where he intends to highlight the things he is going and learning. Looks like it will be interesting. And there is lots more interesting links below. Please check them out!

Congratulations Patrick Godwin who has just been named a Microsoft Student Insider. He’s on Twitter  @ximplosionx and blogged about his new role on his blog at Microsoft Student Insider - Programming He’s heading to Redmond next weekend. Hopefully he’ll blog about that trip. (Hint: Patrick if you are reading this. :-) )

Free books! Games! Programming! Fun! Interested in a free e-book about game programming with XNA? Go get yours!

Speaking of fun. Kodu community-based user blog and forums at www.kodux.com Do you Kodu?

On the security front, @JimMacMillan twittered Hacked-passwords analysis: Most common was “123456,” followed by “12345,” “123456789" and “Password,” in that order.” Interesting and somewhat scary look at what people are using for passwords.

And @Safer_Online twittered a link to some great tips for managing your online reputation. And did you know that this Thursday, 1/28 is Data Privacy Day—observed in the U.S. & 28 other countries. Its aim—to raise awareness about data privacy protection.

Now personally I’m a huge fan of the web design course that Microsoft has made available for free using Microsoft Expression Web tools. But here is an interesting HS web design course using raw html. It may be worth looking at for supplemental resources as well as for itself.

Looking for the latest work on various Microsoft products? This list of Official Microsoft Team & Product blogs may be just the resource you are looking for.

The always interesting Mark Guzdial had an interesting observation last week (@guzdial)  “Open Source Development is actually Country Club Development: Hard to get into, mostly white guys.” That was on top of his blog post Open source development needs to grow-up and become education-friendly. Regardless of your feelings about open source there is some interesting opinions and information to start a conversation on the subject there. Check it out.

Will you be at TCEA? HP, Intel and Microsoft will be offering a free teacher Digital Learning Event at TCEA (Austin). You can learn more about it and register here.

These unique interactive forums are one-day events held throughout the United States. Each Digital Learning Event is an immersive experience that provides K-12 decision-makers with state-of-the-art technology solutions delivered in hands-on learning environments.

More of these coming up - Las Vegas: Thursday, 2/25/10 ~ San Diego: Thursday, 3/11/10 ~ Atlanta: Friday, 3/19/10
Boston: Thursday, 4/8/10 ~ Washington, D.C.: Wednesday, 4/14/10 ~ Indianapolis: Tuesday, 4/20/10 ~ Denver: Thursday, 4/29/10 Minneapolis: Wednesday, 5/5/10 ~ Raleigh-Durham: Tuesday, 5/11/10

Are your students interested in getting some Microsoft certifications? Students can get a free second chance at Microsoft Certification exams.

Great post by @kenroyal about FETC, meeting people, etc. And bonus a picture of the two of us together. :-)

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