Educational websites: Learn

cyberia: on campus

Scouring the web for useful educational resources

Interactive Classes
Udacity
www.udacity.com
Udacity is an initiative to “bring accessible, affordable, engaging, and highly effective higher education to the world”. The service seeks to help you invent your future through free interactive college classes that anyone can take at any time. You can find courses in subjects including computer science, web development, artificial intelligence, algebra, differential equations, statistics, physics, and a whole lot more. The website will provide you with the tools to track your progress and manage your courses; perform interactive, project-based exercises; benefit from real world examples; and become a part of an active community. You will also earn a certificate of completion as soon as you’ve finished the course to show what you know. So whether you want to supplement your current course material, brush up on concept you learned years ago, or take subjects that are not offered at your school, then simply sign up for an Udacity account and start taking classes for free right now. (You will, however, need a relatively high speed internet connection to browse the courses seamlessly, and you might not be able to access the videos as they are hosted on YouTube; luckily though, the courses can be downloaded to overcome these access issues, but keep in mind that the zips are quite bulky.)

Journals
Directory of Open Access Journals
www.doaj.org
Everyone working on an elaborate project or thesis will, at one point or another, have to look for published research journals for reference. And with the Directory of Open Access Journals, that search just became a lot easier. This website helps users find open access journals that “use a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access”. All the content it links to is freely available. DOAJ wants to “increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals, thereby promoting their increased usage and impact”. The site covers all subjects, and goes through periodicals that publish research or review papers in full text, making use of academic, government, commercial, and non-profit private sources. DOAJ aims to “be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content”, and, in short, hopes to “be THE one stop shop for users of open access journals” online.

General Knowledge
How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com
How do Swiss bank accounts work? How does the rotating detonation engine function? What is relativity? How is an electric guitar different from an acoustic guitar? How does the PlayStation 4 work? And what would happen if you travelled faster than the speed of light? You can find out all that and more at Discovery Communications’ HowStuffWorks, a treasure trove of general knowledge about everything under the sun. A source of “credible, unbiased, and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world actually works”, the website aims to “demystify the world and do it in a simple, clear-cut way that anyone can understand”. From technology, culture, and entertainment to science, money, and home & garden, you can find content in a wide array of categories. Be it car engines or search engines, cell phones or stem cells, or thousands of subjects in between, HowStuffWorks has it covered, offering comprehensive articles, helpful graphics, and informative videos to explain every topic clearly, simply, and objectively. The website is chock full of informative content that is both interesting and well presented. So if you want info on something related to your studies, want to increase your general knowledge, or want to discover a concept just for fun, then HowStuffWorks is there to help you understand the topics of your choice.

- S.A.

Us Magazine, The News - 18th April, 2013

Educational websites

cyberzone

The Internet hosts some wonderful resources for learners that offer boundless knowledge to anyone who is willing to make use of it. Here are some such websites that students can benefit from:

Textbooks
Book Boon
www.bookboon.com/en/textbooks
Having trouble trying to understand a concept in your course book? Need extra material to help clarify a topic? Want concise notes to assist you in revising the theories that you have already learned? Then head on over to Book Boon, a website that provides hundreds of textbooks online for you to download and peruse. These books, available as PDF files, are “focused and to the point”, and have been written by “highly respected professors from top universities in the world and cover topics such as economics, statistics, IT, engineering, and natural science”. There isn’t much extraneous text wrapped around the core concepts to obfuscate the topic under discussion; the books get right to the point and plainly explain the concepts or theories at hand. And best of all, they’re all available for free! You do have to enter your email address to download the files, and you have to put up with a few advertisements that appear in the books, but that’s hardly a problem when you’re getting all this material for free; you don’t need to dole out more cash on buying additional textbooks if you can find what you need here for gratis. So whether you’re struggling with chemistry, biology, programming, calculus, finance, economics, accounting, management, or a number of other subjects, then visit Book Boon to help you out by supplementing the material in your course books.

Course material
OCW Consortium
www.ocwconsortium.org
The OpenCourseWare (OCW) Consortium is a “worldwide community of hundreds of higher education institutions and associated organizations committed to advancing OpenCourseWare”, which is “a free and open digital publication of high quality college and university‐level educational materials, organized as courses, and often includes course planning materials and evaluation tools as well as thematic content”. You can find course material from a lot of sources, put together in one portal that you can search through to get what you need in a diverse range of subjects. You might need a little patience to plough through the links, but if you stick with it, you can find many useful resources in the subject(s) of your choice.

Learning tools
Quizlet
www.quizlet.com
Initially founded by a student as an easy-to-use tool for learning vocabulary for his own use, Quizlet has since grown into one of the largest educational websites in the world. The service offers “simple study tools that let you study anything, for free”. Students can define what they need to learn, and the website provides the tools to facilitate the learning. There are six different study modes that you can make use of: Flashcards allow you to flip through and familiarize yourself with the material; the Learn Mode lets you track your progress and review the things you got wrong; the Scatter section asks you to match words to their definitions and try to finish faster than your friends; Speller makes you type what you hear and works in 18 different languages; the Test mode prepares you for the actual test with an automatically graded quiz; and Space Race encourages you to earn points by typing in words before their definitions vanish off screen. You can search for material on the topics of your choice or create your own study sets. So whether you want to study art, science, management, or language, visit Quizlet and join millions of students and teachers from all over the world and enjoy the process of learning.

Charts
Useful Charts
www.usefulcharts.com
Some of us find it easier to learn through text, others find it easier to absorb information visually through diagrams and charts. If you fall in the latter category, then Useful Charts was made especially for you. The goal of the website is to “present useful information in the form of charts so that students, teachers, or simply those interested in increasing their general knowledge can absorb the information quickly and visually”. It doesn’t cover everything under the sun and you won’t find a depth of information on every subject, but there is a lot here for visual learners who want to improve their general knowledge and learn about history, science, psychology, and philosophy.

- By Sameen Amer

Us Magazine, The News - 18th January, 2013

Three useful web-based tools

geek guide

If you want to perform a quick task – like tweak an image, crunch some numbers, or edit a document – on the go, then the web offers some convenient and easy solutions in the form of web applications. These tools can be accessed anywhere over the internet, directly from your browser; no need to install an application, and no compulsion to register. Here are three such applications that you might find useful. Simply point your browser to these websites and make use of the nifty tools they have to offer.

1. Citrify
www.citrify.com
Want to quickly touch up a photograph? Then try Citrify, a free online photo editor that lets you modify and enhance your pictures. Simply launch the flash-based app in your browser, access the photo you want to edit, and choose the settings you want to modify. The tool is very easy to use and makes the editing process very simple. It takes only a mouse click to apply the effects. You can easily adjust the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, size, sharpness, and orientation of the picture; reduce glare and wrinkles, remove red-eye and blemishes; and even air-brush for a smoother skin-tone. Also, you can apply effects such as making your photo look like a watercolour or pencil sketch. For a bit more fun, you can even add stickers such as wigs and sunglasses to your pictures.

2. TitanPad

www.titanpad.com
If you want to quickly edit a document or share some text with a friend or colleague, then TitanPad might help. Based on the open-source release of the now-defunct EtherPad, TitanPad is a service that “lets people work on one document simultaneously”. Just go to the website, create a new pad, and start typing or import your existing (text, HTML, Word, or RTF) document; invite up to eight colleagues (each of whom will be assigned their own colour) to work on the pad, and the content will synchronize in real-time so that everyone sees the same text and can collaborate seamlessly on the document. You can also chat to the other users as you work. When you’re done working on the text, you can export the pad (as HTML, plain text, bookmark file, Microsoft Word, PDF, or OpenDocument). You also have the option to register and create private subdomains if you don’t want your work to be accessible to everyone who has the URL of the pad you have created.

3. InstaCalc

new.instacalc.com
InstaCalc is a user-friendly, fast, and shareable web-based calculator. Just visit the website, enter your calculations, and get your answers; no login or installation required. The service facilitates many types of both simple and more complex calculations, including arithmetic, roots and powers, percentage, trigonometry, and logarithms, and lets you use notations, perform unit conversions, calculate factorials, do base conversions, and much more. The response time is fast as the results are generated as you type, and you can use natural equations and easily understandable notations. You can share your work with your friends, link to any calc from your blog, email or forum post, and even customize your calculator using themes.

So when you need something free and easy to access, and yet still powerful enough to let you quickly get things done, the three apps mentioned above can really help you out. Bookmark them now and you’ll be glad you did!

- Sameen Amer

The Express Tribune - 26th November, 2011

Igniting the fire: Amazon unveils Kindle Fire

technology

Amazon is set to launch its new tablet, Kindle Fire, by the end of this year

When Apple announced the impending launch of its tablet computer early last year, the naysayers were out in force, rushing to judgement on how the device would never catch on. Less than two years later, it is plain to see that not only is the iPad a massive success, but it has also generated more interest in tablet computers, rejuvenating the portable computing genre and incentivizing other companies to venture into the tablet market.

Now entering this hugely competitive arena is Amazon, the “world’s largest online retailer” and the developer of the immensely popular Kindle e-book reader. Built around the company’s core competencies, their new device, the Kindle Fire, will hope to leverage the success of the Kindle brand while further benefiting from their content providing abilities.

Launching soon
A step up from the black and white e-readers the company is known for, the new 7-inch colour tablet has a dual-core processor, and 8GB internal storage (“enough,” Amazon claims, “for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books”); the Kindle Fire has up to eight hours of battery life, makes use of Wi-Fi connectivity, and runs on a customized Android-based platform.

The device will let users connect to the Amazon Appstore as well as allowing them access to the company’s treasure-trove of digital content (at least if they reside in the States; it remains to be seen whether Amazon will pay attention to the market outside the U.S. when it comes to their services) including ebooks, movies, television shows, and music, and facilitate free cloud storage for all Amazon digital content. But perhaps the most talked about feature of the Kindle Fire is the “cloud-accelerated browser” called Amazon Silk, that “uses a "split browser" architecture to leverage the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services cloud”; the browser aims to optimize traffic flows, using techniques like prefetching pages and caching content.

Facing the competition
When the Kindle Fire goes on sale on the 15th of November in the US (global release dates are currently not available), a lot of interest will go into how well it fares in the fiercely competitive tablet market, especially keeping in mind that it is not only going up against other Android-based tablets and various other devices (like the Nook Color and Blackberry PlayBook, for instance), but it will also be competing against the dominating force that is the iPad. A closer look at the specs, however, suggests that Amazon is playing a slightly different game than Apple.

The Kindle Fire is smaller and has fewer features than the iPad, but it does have one substantial selling point: it is considerably cheaper. The pricing could make Kindle Fire attractive to some customers – its price tag (US$199) is significantly less than that of the entry-point iPad (US$499). The lower price predictably has a value trade-off, and the tablet clearly has its limitations; unlike the iPad, Fire lacks camera, microphone and 3G capabilities, and has a smaller screen compared to the current market leader (9.7-inches).

Overall, Kindle Fire’s focus seems to be on offering fewer features at a lower cost, and the gadget is perhaps best suited for simple content consumption, especially if the content comes from Amazon’s own services. The company will be hoping that their strong brand name will make the Kindle Fire a contender in the race for tablet market share, while also using the tablet craze to help them further capitalize on their content-rich ecosphere.

- Sameen Amer

The Express Tribune - 22nd October, 2011

So long, Steve, and thanks for the future

In remembrance of Apple Inc.’s visionary leader
Steven Paul Jobs (1955 – 2011)

As far as technology goes, the last ten years have definitely been the decade of Apple. With the release of each of their iProducts, the company has revolutionized the tech industry, pushing the limits of popular technology and what it can do. None of this would have been possible without Steve Jobs, Apple’s then-CEO, who was not only at the helm of the renaissance of the company that he co-founded, but of an entire industry that would not have been the same without him.

In the wake of the announcement of his death, it feels almost surreal that the man in the black turtleneck will not deliver any more keynote speeches and will not be present at the launch of Apple’s future products. “It’s like Superman died,” someone has commented on a forum, and that sentiment seems remarkably apt. For the generation that has been lucky enough to witness the evolution of computing, the importance of Steve Jobs has been evident throughout these decades. His passion was palpable, his vision revolutionary, and his enthusiasm for technology contagious. And “the world,” as the official Apple statement reads, “is immeasurably better” because of him.

The person
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else's life.”
Born on the 24th of February 1955 and given up for adoption by his biological parents (Syrian father and American mother), Steve Jobs was raised by his adoptive parents in the Silicon Valley; he wouldn’t get to meet his biological sister, Mona Simpson, until they were both adults (in 1986). After finishing high school, he enrolled at Reed College before famously dropping out after only one semester. A visit to India led him to embrace Buddhism, and he would eventually marry his wife Laurene Powell (in 1991) in a ceremony presided by a Zen Buddhist monk; the couple would have three children – a son and two daughters – and he also had a daughter from a previous relationship. His health waned in recent years following his 2004 battle with pancreatic cancer, and ultimately forced him to step down from the position of his company’s CEO in August 2011.

The entrepreneur
“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
After co-founding Apple (1976), then being ousted from his own company (1985), before eventually returning (1996), Steve Jobs become one of the most influential and celebrated people in the industry, building a global business empire and amassing an estimated $8.3 billion fortune. In between, he also founded NeXT, Inc. (1985), which was subsequently purchased by Apple (1996), and created Pixar (1986), which not only revitalized the animated film industry, but also made him Disney’s largest shareholder after it was purchased by the media conglomerate (2006).
Along the way, he used his almost uncanny ability to know what the consumers wanted, even before they knew it themselves, to create a vast array of products; most notably, he help popularize personal computers with the creation of the Apple II (1977) and Macintosh (1984), and then transformed the world of gadgets with the launch of devices like the iPod portable media player (2001) (and the accompanying iTunes digital media application (2001) and store (2003)), the iPhone smartphone (2007), and the iPad tablet computer (2010). His journey may have had its ups and down, but it ultimately transformed him into one of the most fascinating business executives of all time, as the company that he started in his parents’ garage went on to change the world.

The legacy
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
Irrespective of ones stance on Apple and its products, no one can deny the impact Steve Jobs has had on technology. From his contribution to fonts and GUI to popularizing sleek and powerful gadgets, Steve Jobs masterfully combined innovation with strong branding. He took ideas, transformed them into attractive products, and then sold the concepts to the world. His keynote (or "Stevenote") speeches were events that attracted massive attention. He transformed nerdy into hip, unleashing the geek in all of us. The Mac created a legion of fans with, as Douglas Adams put it, an “almost fanatical devotion to their machines”. And then the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad…each device had a ripple effect on the gadget industry as a whole, that not only created waves in his lifetime, but will continue to do so for many, many years to come.

*****
In memoriam

• “The world rarely sees someone who made such a profound impact. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.” – Bill Gates
• “He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me.” – Larry Page
• “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.” – Mark Zuckerberg
• “No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve's death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.” – Tim Cook
• “We've lost something we won't get back. The way I see it, though, the way people love products he put so much into creating means he brought a lot of life to the world." – Steve Wozniak

*****

- Sameen Amer

Us Magazine, The News - 14th October, 2011

Local developers take on antivirus market

technology

Two Pakistani IT students – Hafiz Usman and Syed Imran Ali – have developed the Instant Virus Killer (IVK), a program that has been touted as Pakistan’s first antivirus software.

The duo were motivated to create the software after their own computer fell prey to a virus. “We ended up installing the operating system several times in a single day in order to fix the problem,” explains Usman. “That was when we decided to develop our own antivirus. Initially, we didn’t plan to release it as a product; however, when our friends and family used and appreciated it, we were motivated to launch it professionally. Afterwards we worked on it more consciously, tested it, and got it registered with the Government of Pakistan Intellectual Property Organization. It took almost two years for completion.”

The developers claim IVK continuously protects the operating system and data from viruses, immediately detects USB viruses, can repair corrupt files and can recover a failed PC in 10 seconds, a feature that the duo consider unique and extremely important. It also protects against worms, trojans, and rootkits and offers dual virus protection.

In a market where free programs, like AVG, Avast, and MSE, are easily available, IVK’s PKR 5,000 price tag seems steep. “We are providing lifetime protection with an additional recovery feature with no annual renewal charges,” says Usman, defending the pricing. “Most free antiviruses do not provide all their features in free versions. Moreover, they have no recovery functions.”

At present, the program only works with Windows – versions for other operating systems are planned for the future – and from everything that its creators say about it, IVK seems promising. In the absence of a trial version, however, one has no way of evaluating the product and can therefore not assess its effectiveness. The developers say they are aware of this issue and have received numerous requests for a trial version which is under consideration.

- Sameen Amer

The Express Tribune - 21 November, 2010

Collaborate

web-based collaborative tools

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed” – Charles Darwin

The importance of teamwork is instilled in all of us as part of our education with a seemingly endless barrage of group work and team assignments, and the concept of collaboration usually follows us into our work lives, playing an intrinsic role in almost everything we do. Whether we have to work on a school project, a college research paper, or even a work assignment, chances are we will, at some point, want (or need) to collaborate with our class-fellows or colleagues. The powers of technology have made it possible for such collaboration to take place without the need to be at the same location, and various browser-based tools are making such collaboration even easier: no need to shuffle emails and messages back and forth; no need to install additional software; you don’t even have to sign up or create an account (although you have that option if you want to save your data online and use advanced features). And while you can always use Google Docs for this purpose, there are various standalone web-based services if you’d rather use something that doesn’t plug into Google. So if you have to write a group report, plan a meeting with co-workers, figure out the best route for a carpool, or even doodle with your friends just for fun, the following tools might be a good place to start:

1. iEtherPad (www.ietherpad.com): Based on the EtherPad software, iEtherPad is a web-based word processor that allows multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously, instantaneously showing the changes that are made by any of the users. The service is extremely easy to use; simply open the website, start a public notepad right away, and invite your friends or colleagues to join in; you can also import your existing documents to iEtherPad, and export the final version and save it to your computer. If you want to share your documents privately within your team, then you can start a secure pad and create a password-protected team site to keep track of your documents.

2. Twiddla (www.twiddla.com): Twiddla describes itself as a web-based “meeting playground” and lets users brainstorm on a background of their choice, which can range from a blank canvas to a website, graphic, or photo. The website requires no plug-ins or downloads, lets you get right to work, and allows you to productively work with your friends without any hassle.

3. Stixy (www.stixy.com): Stixy offers users an unlimited number of shareable Web-based bulletin boards (called Stixyboards) that let you organize your information. The website allows you to create tasks, appointments, notes, and bookmarks on your Stixyboards, and also add photos and documents using the drag and drop widgets. You can make your Stixyboard public and accessible by anyone anywhere, or share your boards with your friends only and give full or limited access to your colleagues as required.

- By Sameen Amer

Ink Magazine - Oct-Dec, 2010