www.youtube.com Click here to watch Versus: Prototype 2′s Alex Mercer or James Heller! Versus: Gaming System: Console or PC S03E18 This week on Versus, Steve and Larson tackle a debate sure to enflame the passions of gamers everywhere: which gaming system is superior, the console or the PC. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - In this video you will see: 1) HOW TO not pay through the teeth for upgrades. 2) HOW TO mod. 3) HOW TO enjoy pornography. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE SPORTS GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE MMO & RPG GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE ANIMATIONS & SHORTS, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE TRAILERS, GO TO: www.youtube.com TAGS: Steve Larson Versus Vs MACHVersus Machinima console PC gaming video games "Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception" "Halo" "Gear of War 3" "Batman: Arkham City" Bastion "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" "Super Mario Bros Wii" "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" "Battlefield 3" "Starcraft 2" "Prototype 2" "Alex Mercer" Zeus "James Heller" Marine wife child dead biomass Blacklight virus Blackwatch Gentek "New York Zero" Red Zone Activision "Radical Entertainment" "Xbox 360" "Playstation 3" PS3 Microsoft Windows
Path of Exile – Exclusive Shadow Class Footage & Update
May 21st, 2012Totalbiscuit takes a fresh look at Path of Exile with its newest updates and addition of a new class, the Shadow.
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UBC researcher helping turn rehab into a game
May 21st, 2012SEE PHOTOS OF THE RICK HANSEN RELAY.
=========
In a Vancouver experiment over the past year and a half, seven paralyzed patients played computer games at home while electrodes in a wrist cuff sent electrical currents to paralyzed muscles so they could contract, allowing users to grasp and move a joystick.
The wrist stimulator is controlled by users when they click their teeth to trigger hand opening or closing. Every tooth click generates a vibration in the jaw and temporal bones that is detected by a sensor in an earpiece, similar to a Bluetooth device.
While electrical stimulation is now broadly used in rehab of such patients, previous work has shown that electrical stimulation triggered by voluntary (controlled) movements produces better results than when non-triggered stimulation is used.
The technologically advanced exercise therapy trial was funded by a $360,000 grant from the Rick Hansen Institute.
The study utilized what is called a ReJoyce workstation, a system invented by University of Alberta biomedical engineers Jan Kowalczewski and Arthur Prochazka. It helps build function and strength in the hands of those who have lost both because of stroke or spinal cord injuries.
In Montreal and Toronto, the same experiments using the ReJoyce (Rehabilitation Joystick for Computer Exercise) were repeated in another 10 study participants, all of whom still had intact brain cognition but a spinal cord injury resulting in limb paralysis.
The purpose of the study was to evaluate improvements in hand function and to be able to predict how often the therapy would have to be used to attain benefits, so training once a week was compared with training five times a week.
Study results are now being analyzed and will eventually be published in a medical journal. But based on several previous studies and analysis of the current study so far, researchers expect the benefits of ReJoyce therapy will be confirmed as a rehabilitation model for upper limb strength and dexterity; that would give those with paralysis more independence.
Worthwhile effort
Tania Lam, a University of B.C. researcher who led the Vancouver arm of the study, said it involved tremendous effort on the part of study coordinators and participants, but it was worth it.
“This was a great study to be involved in. The participants who volunteered their time to participate in this study were very dedicated and committed to the research, allowing us into their lives and homes to install the ReJoyce workstation and patiently working with us through the demands of the study — multiple testing sessions, weekly training sessions for two months and followup testing over 12 months after the training ended,” she said.
“We [saw] from our own [preliminary] data in Vancouver that participants really benefited from this type of training, achieving abilities with their hand function that they had not been able to do [since their injury],” added Lam, an associate professor of kinesiology who is affiliated with the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD).
“In consideration of the demands on people’s everyday lives, if this type of therapy is going to be widely used, it’s important to understand whether it ends up needing to be an intensive, daily commitment or whether once per week could be adequate,” she said.
Since users may not have any hand function when they start to use the technology, they may require a caregiver to put the wristlet on for them.
“Tetraplegic people can do more with their hands, arms and teeth than you might imagine,” Prochazka said.
“The earpiece has a small radio transmitter that sends a packet of coded information to a receiver in the stimulator, which is the size of an iPod mini and is located within the wristlet. In some cases, a caregiver puts it on for them. In other cases, they manage themselves,” said Prochazka, who coordinated the study and has a vested interest in ReJoyce since he is involved in a private company called Hometelemed that is already offering in-home rehab therapy using the ReJoyce system.
ReJoyce exercises are meant to help patients perform basic functions of everyday life. If the rehabilitation activity is proven to help improve hand function, then patients could again do things such as open doors, turn handles, pick up items and move them.
The ReJoyce workstation consists of a laptop computer loaded with at least eight games requiring numerous hand actions on the joystick, such as grasping, gripping, squeezing, pinching and lifting.
Although Nintendo’s Wii games are sometimes used for physical or occupational therapy, Prochazka said they aren’t intended to be used as clinical devices. They may be beneficial for whole limb range of motion, but not so much for fine motor control, strength and dexterity.
Tele-rehabilitation
Throughout the one-hour sessions over eight weeks, trial participants were being supervised and watched by webcams over the Internet. Study researchers in remote locations could observe and interact with the study subjects in what’s been called the world’s first multi-centre trial of in-home tele-rehabilitation.
The tele-supervisor’s role was to watch a webcam image of the patient and remotely control the games and sensors. At the same time, they downloaded performance data generated by the hand function test software.
Prochazka said the ReJoyce hand exercise workstations have gone through several iterations for fine tuning and are now being manufactured for sale. Up to now, it has largely been a research tool in North America, but a rehab centre in Edmonton — Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital — was the first to start using it on patients. It has also been commercialized for sale, at $8,000, in some places around the world.
Hometelemed, the private company in which Prochazka and Kowalczewski both have a vested interest, has been set up to provide supervised ReJoyce rehab over the Internet to users in their homes.
But unless patients are covered for such treatment by extended health insurance plans, the daily therapy may cost about $2,300 over six weeks.
Rod Cebuliak was one of the first patients to use ReJoyce when he took part in a study about four years ago using an early prototype. The Edmonton resident became a quadriplegic in 2006 when he broke his neck in an extremely rare event — and cruel twist of fate — while doing nothing more than bending over.
“My hands and fingers are very badly atrophied so that’s the primary reason I was motivated to be a guinea pig with this kind of research, to help myself and others,” Cebuliak said.
“The ReJoyce system certainly helped me try to do more things and improve my fine motor function and strength. It’s the kind of system anyone can use and it’s not boring, redundant or repetitive because of the game format,” he said.
Sun Health Issues Reporter
LONG-WEEKEND RELAY EVENTS:
Saturday, Day 270: Burnaby to White Rock
5 p.m.: End-of-day celebration at White Rock Community Centre Square, 15154 Russell Ave. While the event begins at 5 p.m., the relay won’t arrive until 7 p.m.
Sunday, Day 271: White Rock to Richmond
11:45 a.m.: World figure skating champion Patrick Chan joins the relay at McDonald’s Restaurant, 400-11668 Steveston Hwy., Richmond.
4 p.m.: Wheelchair Basketball Championship final game, Richmond Olympic Oval, 6111 River Rd., Richmond. Hansen will speak at the closing ceremony and present the gold medals.
4:30 p.m.: End of day celebration at the Richmond Olympic Oval Legacy Plaza. While the event begins at 4:30 p.m., the relay won’t arrive until 5 p.m.
Monday, Day 272: Richmond to Vancouver
10:29 a.m.: Radio host Vicki Gabereau carries the medal along Oak Street from 33rd Avenue to the Van Dusen Gardens Visitor Centre.
11:30 a.m.: The relay visits the Musqueam First Nation, Musqueam gymnasium, 6735 Salish Dr., Vancouver.
2:41 p.m.: Lululemon CEO Christine Day joins the relay on West Broadway from Angus Bakery to 3466 W. Broadway.
Source: Rick Hansen Foundation
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I'm driving reforms agenda, says PM
May 21st, 2012David Cameron brushed aside criticism of his work ethic after details emerged of his fondness for karaoke and computer games.
The Prime Minister insisted he was “completely dedicated” to his job “driving” the Government’s agenda for change and reform.
Speaking in Chicago, where he is attending the Nato summit, he said he had not even had time to read claims made in a new biography of Mr Cameron by journalists Francis Elliott and James Hanning.
“If I find myself with some spare time I will have a look at this fascinating novel someone has written about me,” he said.
The book describes how the Prime Minister “chillaxes” during weekends at Chequers, by singing karaoke, playing tennis against a machine dubbed “the Clegger”, indulging in games on his iPad, and downing three or four glasses of wine at Sunday lunch.
Mr Cameron however painted a very different picture of his life at No 10 Downing Street. “It is an enormous privilege to do this job and it is rightly extremely demanding. It requires a huge dedication at work and I am completely dedicated to that,” he said.
The Prime Minister also rejected criticisms by some in his own party that he was simply content to be in office and was not interested in radical reform.
“I think this Government has been extraordinarily driven and radical. There are many things this Government has done that previous reforming governments weren’t able to do,” he said.
“Obviously there are constraints of a coalition government, but I would argue that this is a radical reforming Government.”
Mr Cameron said that he had deliberately appointed ministers with a radical reforming vision like Education Secretary Michael Gove and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. He said that much of time now was spent progress-chasing and ensuring that the Government’s reforms were actually delivered.
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David Cameron has come under fire for playing games on his iPad as Britain struggles
May 19th, 2012
By
Jason Groves
14:48 EST, 18 May 2012
|
14:51 EST, 18 May 2012
A crisis in the eurozone, crucial talks on Afghanistan and a faltering economy at home might seem more than enough to keep him occupied.
Yesterday, however, David Cameron was forced into frantic denials over bizarre claims that he spends a ‘crazy and scary’ amount of time playing computer games on his iPad.
The Prime Minister, a fan of Apple’s trendy tablet computer, is said to be obsessed with the cult game Fruit Ninja, in which players swipe their fingers across a screen to slice through moving images of pieces of melon, orange and pineapple.
Storm brewing: The revelation that Prime Minister David Cameron spends long periods playing games on his iPad will not go down well with the unhappy electorate
Slicing through it: Cameron seems more bothered about slicing fruit in the platform game Fruit Ninja than dealing with Britain’s increasing economic problems
Despite the economic crisis – not to mention the demands of raising three young children – Mr Cameron is said to spend hours tinkering with his iPad and playing computer games.
Yesterday Fraser Nelson, editor of the respected and pro-Conservative Spectator magazine, suggested that what was harmless fun had become an obsession.
He said a senior adviser to Mr Cameron had told him the Prime Minister spends ‘a crazy, scary amount of time playing Fruit Ninja on his iPad’.
Mr Nelson suggested the Prime Minister should ‘turn off the iPad and start dealing with our debt’. Downing Street last night flatly denied the claim, saying it was one of Mr Cameron’s children – aged eight, six and 21 months – who played the game.
A source said: ‘It is absolutely not true that the Prime Minister plays Fruit Ninja.’
But Mr Cameron has himself admitted to dabbling with the game, saying it helps him cope with the everyday stress of life in Downing Street.
Indeed, he told an interviewer earlier this year: ‘It’s quite good, to get your frustration out. If you can’t have a reshuffle, play Fruit Ninja.’
The Prime Minister has also said that computer games can help him relax during long journeys.
What’s he up to? Pictured at his home, is Cameron checking up with government work, or playing games aimed at a younger audience?
Last night former Labour minister John Spellar said it was astonishing that Mr Cameron could find time to play computer games at all, given the scale of the problems facing Britain.
The MP said: ‘Anyone who has ever been a minister knows that the pressures on your time are intense – and that is only a fraction of the time pressure faced by a prime minister.
‘It is a round-the-clock job and I think it is frankly extraordinary that he is wasting time on computer games when Britain is in the throes of an international economic crisis.
‘Instead of trying to show that he is down with the kids he should be getting on with the job.’
Mr Cameron is thought to have taken up Fruit Ninja after completing the hit game Angry Birds. In a separate interview earlier this year the Prime Minister admitted that he found Angry Birds ‘addictive’, but denied it was taking up too much of his time.
He said: ‘It is quite addictive, but I want to reassure you I don’t spend a huge amount of time on it.
‘Sometimes on these long flights, when you have done all your work, you have had all your conversations and prepared all your speeches, you need something to relax with.
‘Sometimes I watch a bit of television, sometimes I play a bit of Angry Birds.’
Mr Cameron is also known to have become increasingly reliant on his iPad.
He has ordered civil servants to create an application for the device to keep him informed of breaking news and the performance of government departments and ministers.
The 20,000 app will also produce data on polling, unemployment figures, NHS waiting lists and movements in the markets.
It will also give ‘real time’ feeds from Twitter and news websites so the Prime Minister can keep up to date with events in the UK and around the world.
Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.
The comments below have not been moderated.
It’s a new low in the decline of civilizations. At least Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
Displacement. self-therapy.
To remind himself to keep on cutting expenditure perhaps…?
He can play, of course that everybody needs to relax but in the photo he is in the office, probably in the time destined to be working, not at his home. Going to “best rated” comments is very easy to see how you defend this idiot , of course, this is the RRRRight hand newspaper (in europe we knew that he was a clown a long time ago)
wont be the first time he,s sliced a few things up eh……………………..
Like Obama, he is just a talking head taking orders from others, and has plenty of time to play games until he gets the next command to churn out the usual spin.
he is not a robot, even they have to recharge at times! – Stuart, Birmingham, 18/5/2012 21:42
No, he’s a traitorous puppet of the EU instead. I have no complaints about camoron spending time on games like that, when he is NOT the PM. Besides which, didn’t one of his Ministers tell people to ‘work harder’ (not clever enough to say work SMARTER)?
Problem is people can actually believe that this bloke is doing this………………………that’s what you get when you are a populist who loves the press……………you can’t control them Dave, they will find you out
Well the Keep Calm and Carry On comes to my mind…but maybe some people would expect him to run around like a headless chicken, while he has prioeities over here, he cannot fix the rest of the world and surely everyone needs a breather sometimes to collect their thoughts…sometimes if you become too focues on one thing you lose track of otheres so a time out is nessasary so you don’t end up being burned out…
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EA to Piggyback Origin on Popular Kickstarter Games
May 19th, 2012
As Electronic Arts continues to work toward having Origin reach feature parity with Steam — and hopefully finding something unique it can offer in the process — it also is focused on getting the software installed on as many computers as possible. Bundling it with EA’s own computer games has proven to be one effective way of doing this, whether it be with Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3, as has exclusively offering the digital version of its big MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, through the service. Now it’s extending a helping hand to independent developers who have turned to crowd-funding to get their games made in a move that will further help to increase the size of Origin’s userbase.
The publisher today announced it will waive Origin’s distribution fees for 90 days for any developer wanting to bring its crowd-funded, downloadable PC game to the service, just so long as the game is ready to publish. Develop notes the only costs developers will be subjected to are those pertaining to transactions, such as the fee charged by credit card companies. Even with that small caveat, this is still a potentially great deal for independent developers who will be able to receive a significantly larger portion of revenue on each game it sells in the three months following release. Particularly when you consider many of the games that have been funded by Kickstarter are unlikely to ever be multi-million unit sellers, that extra money could prove to be a major boon.
“The public support for crowd-funding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal,” said Origin senior VP David DeMartini. “It’s also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. Gamers around the world deserve a chance to play every great new game, and by waiving distribution fees on Origin we can help make that a reality for successfully crowd-funded developers.”
Only one such game has been confirmed for release through Origin so far, but it is one of Kickstarter’s biggest to date: Wasteland 2. The game far exceeded developer inXile Entertainment’s funding goal, raising over $3.3 million by the time its April deadline was reached.
“I have had a long relationship with EA and it is great to see them recognize and support the crowd-funded games model,” said inXile CEO Brian Fargo. “Having Origin waive their distribution fees for 90 days for fan funded games is a major economic bonus for small developers. We look forward to bringing Wasteland 2 to the Origin audience.”
The savings being passed on to inXile by Origin may prove to benefit more than just the game’s developer. Fargo announced an initiative in March called Kick it Forward which will see five percent of Wasteland 2′s profits be given to other Kickstarter developers. Origin not charging any distribution fees means there should be more money to distribute through this program, which has to be welcome news for developers hoping to launch a Kickstarter campaign following Wasteland 2′s release later next year.
It’s a generous offer from EA, which gets to look good, help support indie games that the public has demonstrated an interest in supporting, and build a relationship with these developers. The one potential downside I can foresee is potential Kickstarter backers who are averse to using Origin being hesitant to support any project that proclaims it has plans to release through Origin. Developers may be able to avoid this if they commit to giving backers a DRM-free copy that does not make use of Origin. In fact, offering this exclusively through Kickstarter may be a way of encouraging backers to pledge to a project.
The benefits for the publisher go beyond those mentioned above, too, as distributing these games through Origin (and presumably including its in-game overlay) means increasing the number of computers the service is installed on. This may not help it to suddenly topple Steam, but any advantageous move it can make is going to be a welcome one, particularly if it’s something like this that won’t prove to be costly. EA is sacrificing revenue, but with transaction fees being covered by the developers that should be no big deal, especially since sales made after the first 90 days of availability will be treated like those of any other game — which is to say, EA will start to get the sizable cut that digital distributors take.
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EC-Council Foundation Announces Innovative Child Online Protection Initiative at the World Summit of Information …
May 17th, 2012Online Global Cyber Defense Competition comprised of computer network defense and computer forensics games that mimics real world scenarios to attract over 15,000 players from 6 continents for both the high school and professional category.
May 16, 2012 –
Geneva (PRWEB) May 16, 2012 — Jay Bavisi, the President of EC-Council Foundation, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization, announced a new online competition open to every country in the world with the goal of raising awareness of information security and online safety among teenagers and adults. The announcement of the competition, dubbed the “High School Challenge”, came today while Mr. Bavisi spoke on a high-level executive panel at the World Summit of Information Security 2012, organized by the International Telecommunication Union in cooperation with UNESCO, UNCTAD, and UNDP in Geneva. Speaking alongside Mr. Bavisi, the high-level panel consisted of the Secretary General of ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure; Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of the Management Board of IMPACT; H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, Director of General Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of U.A.E.; Honorable M. Gilbert Noel Ouedraogo, Minister of Transport of Burkina Faso; H.E. Valery Borissov, Deputy Minister of Transport and Information Technologies; and Dr. Salim Alruzaiqi, Information Technology Authority, Communications CEO of Oman.
The new online competition format was created with the intent of incorporating teens and young adults into EC-Council Foundation’s existing and groundbreaking ethical hacking competition, The Global CyberLympics.
CyberLympics has been endorsed by the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), which is the cyber security executing arm of the United Nations’ specialized agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has officially been appointed as the Patron of the Global CyberLympics. With that appointment, Dr. Toure became the Chair of the Global CyberLympics Advisory Council (GCAC).
The Global CyberLympics is a not-for-profit initiative lead and organized by EC-Council Foundation with the goal of increasing education and ethics in information security through a series of cyber competitions that encompass forensics, ethical hacking, and defense. The “High School Challenge” is a key initiative for Global CyberLympics with the goal of fostering an environment that creates child online protection through education. The mission statement of the Global CyberLympics is “Unifying Global Cyber Defense through the Games” and last year, over 1,500 people applied to participate in the competition. The regional qualifying competitions were held at Cyber security conferences across the globe and the top two teams from each region were invited to participate in the World Finals. As travelling to the competition can prove costly and logistically complicated for children, the online “High School Challenge” will allow for great participation. As a Technology Sponsor of the games, the competitions will be powered by SAIC’s (SAIC) (NYSE: SAI) CyberNEXS™, a live, realistic game environment that has been used for well over 150 training and competition events globally, enabling users to develop the skills to recognize and defend against cyber attacks..
The CyberLympics World Finals is scheduled on the 29 -31 October, 2012 at the Hacker Halted Conference in Miami. For more information about CyberLympics or to register, please visit: http://www.cyberlympics.org
Contact: Dan Callahan -Program Manager (dan(dot)callahan(at)eccouncil(dot)org)
About the EC-Council Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity, was established in 2012 by the founders of the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council).
The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in various e-business and information security skills. It is the owner and creator of the world famous Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)/License Penetration Tester (LPT) programs, and as well as many others programs, that are offered in over 87 countries through a training network of more than 450 training partners globally and has trained over 90,000 individuals and certified more than 40,000 security professionals.
The Foundation was set up as a not for profit initiative by the founders of EC-Council to raise awareness, build capacity across nations, and ultimately promote global peace while ensuring that the global community raises its awareness for the immediate need for child online protection. One of the key initiatives of the foundation is the Global CyberLympics; a unifying body for Global Cyber Defense. Global CyberLympics is a series of cybersecurity related competitions including: Forensics, Penetration Testing, Computer Network Defense, and Capture the Flag.
The Foundation also supports select regional, national, and international high school, collegiate and professional education programs and cyber competitions. The EC-Council Foundation mission is to foster collaboration and participation by Global Digital Citizens to become advocates for safe and secure on-line activities and child online protection.
Dan Callahan
EC Council Foundation
505-341-3228
Email Information
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Computer games guru honoured as 'role model'
May 17th, 2012A COMPUTER games developer and programmer has been named as this year’s recipient of the Guildford Roll of Honour.
Peter Molyneux OBE will collect the accolade at a ceremony held in the Guildhall on Wednesday, July 11.
The award aims to recognise and celebrate people who have made a difference to Guildford and the surrounding area, either economically, socially or artistically.
Now in its second year, the award is a joint venture between the University of Surrey and the borough council.
Mr Molyneux has been chosen for his business success and contribution to the UK computer games design and programming industry, which has a strong presence in the town.
“Guildford is a fantastic place to start and grow a business,” said Mr Molyneux.
“It is home to a pool of amazingly talented people and the town has attracted some of the world’s finest computer games companies.”
He started his career in the games industry in 1987 and created and sold two major companies – Bullfrog, which was sold to Electronic Arts in 1995, and Lionhead Studios, acquired by Microsoft in 2006.
While at Bullfrog, Mr Molyneux developed the game Populus, which sold more than four million copies, and he is also responsible for Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White and the Fable series.
Recently, Mr Molyneux left his creative director role at Microsoft Game Studios Europe to help grow a new venture called 22cans, based
in Guildford.
Keith Robson, director of research and enterprise at the University of Surrey, said: “The university is proud to be supporting this exclusive and prestigious annual award, which honours a select group of individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the economy of Guildford and the surrounding region.
“Peter is a fantastic role model for the new generation of Surrey student entrepreneurs.
“Bullfrog, Lionhead and his latest venture, 22cans, have all been started in Guildford, creating significant local employment and wealth and helping to make Guildford a recognised centre for the gaming industry.”
Councillor Tony Rooth, Guildford Borough Council leader, said: “Those who receive the roll of honour are role models for young people. They can also act as ambassadors to promote the successes of our thriving borough.
“Guildford Borough Council is committed to ensuring that our borough remains attractive to the leading entrepreneurs and innovators of the future.”
The award’s first recipient, last year, was professor Sir Martin Sweeting, executive chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.
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Monroe teachers to attend Fairfield University workshop on using computer games to promote STEM learning; Google grant …
May 15th, 2012
Monroe teachers to attend Fairfield University workshop on using computer games to promote STEM learning; Google grant funds the program
Monday, 14 May 2012 00:45
Some Monroe public school teachers will attend a workshop June 27 to 29 designed to share educational methods for creating and integrating interactive educational computer games into the curriculum to help middle and high school students learn computer science and engineering concepts.
Workshop organizers at Fairfield University said teachers in attendance will learn how to use “computing education as the glue within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum development and execution,” and create exciting ways to teach their students. A grant from Google will fund the program.
To take place in college’s engineering labs
The Fairfield faculty-led workshop, to be led by Fairfield University faculty and held in the university’s School of Engineering labs, is primarily for teachers from the Diocese of Bridgeport and the public school districts of Monroe, Ansonia, Bridgeport and Trumbull. Monroe has a STEM Academy for middle school students and offers robotics and various other computer courses at Masuk High School.
“We will be recruiting and having about 15 secondary teachers on campus in June,” said Amalia Rusu, assistant professor of software engineering, who was awarded a $10,000 grant from Google for the CS4HS (Computer Science for High School) program. “The workshop promises to offer teachers engaging ideas that they can bring back to their own classrooms.”
The workshop comes at a time when American students are lagging behind students in China, India and other parts of the world in computer science, math and science study. At the same time, the United States has fallen behind in technological and scientific advancements.
Promoting computer science
The CS4HS program is an initiative sponsored by Google to promote computer science and “computational thinking” in middle and high school curriculum. With grants from Google’s Education Group, universities can develop two- to three-day workshops for local teachers. These workshops incorporate informational talks by faculty, researchers and industry leaders, and discussions on new and emerging computer science curricula at the high school and middle school level.
Leading the workshop will be Fairfield University faculty member Rusu, assisted by Douglas Lyon, professor of computer engineering, and John H. E. Lasseter, assistant professor of computer science. “During the three-day workshop, various learning activities will alternate between presentations and hands-on labs,” Rusu said. “Everything that will be delivered is based on our proposal, ideas and teaching methods. Google sponsors us with funds to put our ideas in practice and help computer science education in that way.”
Fairfield University also offers a STEM program for high school students. For information about the teacher workshop, email Rusu at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
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Microsoft: Win8 Simplifies, Improves Parental Monitoring of Kids Computer Activities
May 15th, 2012Microsoft has designed Windows 8 to make parental monitoring and control of children’s computer activities simpler and more effective, the company said on Monday.
In Windows 8, parents can receive a weekly report of their children’s online and PC activities by creating user accounts for each child and turning on the Family Safety feature.
“No additional downloads, installation wizards, or configuration steps are required,” the company said in a blog post authored by
Phil Sohn, Microsoft’s senior program manager lead for Family Safety.
The weekly report, delivered via email, includes information like websites visited, search queries, Windows Store downloads, most used applications and games and PC-use time length.
If, instead of being local Windows accounts specific to a particular PC, the parent and children accounts are based on a Windows Live ID, then the monitoring can extend to other machines the children log into.
With Windows Live ID-based accounts, parents can also apply usage control settings for their children accounts across multiple PCs. Settings established by parents are stored in Microsoft’s cloud-based Family Safety service.
These settings can be changed by clicking on different sections in the weekly report or by going directly to the Family Safety control panel.
For example, parents can restrict the websites children visit and games they play, establish time limits for using PCs and specific applications, and prevent children from seeing certain Windows Store applications based on their age rating.
Windows 8 is currently in “Consumer Preview” beta. According to Sohn, people interested in these Family Safety features should watch out for the next Windows 8 release, termed “Release Preview,” which Microsoft has said is expected at some point in June. Microsoft hasn’t said exactly when it plans to ship Windows 8 in commercial final form.
Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.
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Tittle-tattle nonsense. Wish the the DM spent less time indulging in it and tried its hand at some serious journalism.
- T.Carter, London, 19/5/2012 03:43
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