A classmate of mine has been trying to make a hard decision for a few weeks now. He’s interested in a tablet device for reading massive quantities of academic articles. But he’s turned off by the price of the iPad. It’s understandable. The iPad costs as much as a low end computer. All that for
Whatcha Gonna Do with All That Data?
Why is Facebook tracking its users around the web, even when they aren’t logged in to Facebook? What possible reason can Facebook have for gathering a massive amount of data for each of their 800 million users? What application can result from a dataset so immense that it requires extraordinary computing power to conduct any
Power Concerns Ultimate Decider in Portable Computing
Two recent conversations that I’ve had have coalesced to lead me to a conclusion about where consumer electronics are going. First, on Saturday, I talked with my uncle about computers. He suggested that eventually (and likely sooner rather than later) consumers will just carry around one smart phone-sized device that serves as their entire computer.
Facebook: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
I never imagined that I would quote Black Flag lyrics for any real purpose, but Greg Ginn’s lyrics fit perfectly with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s general approach to running their popular social networking website. Gimme gimme gimme I need some more Gimme gimme gimme Don’t ask what for Sitting here like a loaded gun Waiting
Running Again
It’s disingenuous to suggest that a sports-related injury can give a person a sense of what it is like to be getting older. The pain associated with an injury of this sort tends to be relatively short-lasting and the injured person has a reasonable chance of recovery, and recovery that matches or exceeds past ability
From PlusError.com: The Student as Rational Actor
Tony and I are starting a new blog about testing. You can visit it here: Plus Error. This is the text of a post that I wrote there earlier today. Last week, I wrote on my professional blog about how restricting the length of student test answers reduces the reliability of the student answer. Tony
Nothing to Love about Netflix Changes
Yesterday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that Netflix will no longer be a DVD-by-mail company and would instead focus entirely on providing streaming media. The DVD business won’t be shuttered though; instead, it will be spun off and renamed “Qwikster.” Thus, customers who wish to receive both of Netflix’s services will now have to do
Reed Hastings: I have no idea what I am doing.
Here’s the text of the email that Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, sent out today to all subscribers, in an attempt to explain Netflix’s price increases and other changes. Dear Michael, I messed up. I owe you an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we
Writing Outside the Box: Controlling Length of Test Answers
One challenge facing instructors who wish students to write their answers to test questions, rather than just select an option from a list, is that some students may write a lot more than other students. This presents difficulty in grading tests in an expedient manner. Graders will have to search through the student’s long answer
Atheistizing Freshmen
A colleague of mine, who this semester is teaching an introductory public speaking course, noted how many of her freshmen students write their introductory speeches about their religious faith. This, she observed, seemed odd, considering how little religious faith seems to matter to older students. I don’t have any numbers to back up this trend
Taking Alcohol Abuse Responses Back to BASICS
Starting this fall, UW students who abuse alcohol (and are caught) will be subject to some new kinds of punishments. Here’s what Dean of Students Lori Berquam had to say in an email to campus: “Beginning this fall, students who commit alcohol-related violations of university policy will likely be required to attend a series of
Dropping DropBox
Am I wrong to have a deep-seated skepticism toward companies whose primary business is to provide free services to millions of users? Given the popularity of online storage service DropBox, it would appear that I am among the paranoid few who thinks DropBox is a stupid service that shouldn’t be trusted. In the past two
Too Much Variability for Deception Detection
A common and frustrating mantra of deception detection research is that deception can be detected through non-verbal cues. For example, it is commonly accepted that when a person avoids eye contact, that person is being deceptive. This type of detection has played out in the deception literature but overall has not found success. Nevertheless, it
We Will Never Go Back to Paper Mail
The United States Postal Service is facing a financial crisis. Due to the convenience of electronic resources, changing social norms, and an excessive amount of junk mail (among other factors), fewer and fewer people use paper mail. Because of this, the United States Postal Service is losing money and has no way to return to
Platform or Destination: Does it matter?
In this article on CNet, Rafe Needleman suggests that Facebook is not a destination for companies, but is instead a platform. It’s an interesting distinction because it suggests companies’ strategy for social networking website engagement should consider Facebook as just another marketing tool, rather than a unique site. This same distinction is useful in research