Jim's Page

Well, maybe partially alive. I plan to post some observations and notes from the Lausanne Laptop conference at my main blog www.k12converge.com and here if possible. To begin, I've been posting about my first year in London, a new Advent Netbook (MSI Wind) I starting using just 2 days ago, losing my luggage over the Atlantic, and reading Carol Dweck. (Drinking an entire carafe of coffee at iHop this morning may or may not have been a great idea.) Meanwh… Continue

I just finished a blog post about my daughter's growing interest in photography:

http://www.k12converge.com/?p=242

What's interesting about working with an eight year-old and photography is the way that the medium puts her one step back from simply looking at the scene or subject. Too much of this meta-awareness would likely be detrimental to a young child's development, but in chosen ways I can it being both fun and creative. May… Continue

A quick update on eeePCs...

I've bought three so far. One is hidden as a xmas gift for my two kids next week. The other two were briefly handed around the IT office before being appropriated by the High School First Robotics team. I had an update today that they are now successfully using them to write and compile the programming of their robot, and the eeePCs have the right cost and form factor to travel with them to the competition.

Overall, I give all credit to the program… Continue

Actually, not such a good surprise.

With around 800 Macs on campus, it's not unusual for us to have to order extra Macbooks and iMacs as the year progresses. I recently ordered three Macbooks to replace faculty machines, and they came with OS X 10.5 Leopard installed. Not a big deal, we thought, we'll just put on the 10.4 faculty image.

Bong! Wrong answer. Currenlty, there's a firmware change on the Leopard Macbooks that prevents 10.4 from working. Apple "should" come o… Continue

Okay, it looks like it's about time for "wireless network overload."

It began with the laptop carts, and then the 1:1 laptops, and now the iPhones, and soon the eeePCs will join the Blackberries, Windows Mobile devices, and all the other devices that want to join school wireless networks. Suddenly, our "supported user base" may include an increasing percentage of parents coming to school events, presenters, vendors, delivery personnel, and more who want to stay connected to the web.… Continue