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Tuesday, 19 March 2013
eMusic CEO steps down as site merges with e-book distributor
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Y Combinator-Backed Terascore Launches To Help Teachers Bring Testing Online
Teachers and students have suffered through the same model of educational testing for years. Sure, the SAT has changed — it’s now out of a possible 2,400 points, not 1,600 — but both standardized testing and good old in-class quizzing are still in the dominion of paper and pencil. Terascore, a Y Combinator-backed startup that launches today, is on a mission to help bring testing online.
To do that, the startup aims to provide teachers with tools that can help them create, administer and manage tests online, while making scores and results available immediately after testing. The platform also offers instant analytics for teachers to help them dig down into question quality and difficulty, along with providing a question bank for easy storage and re-use — all collectively as a way to better evaluate student performance and make testing easier on teachers.
This comes at a good time for education, as teachers are increasingly on Pinterest, students are on mobile phones, Facebook and everything in between — and even schools are beginning to be connected into various networks. Yet assessment remains offline, and teachers are left to shuffle paper and use hole-punched manilla folders to grade multiple choice tests. Terascore, in turn, wants to shorten the feedback loop for learning.
A quick and dirty way to do that? Make it easier for teachers to create new, compelling and, more importantly, factually correct, test questions. This process is a huge time sink for teachers. If you need further proof, just check out the popularity of marketplaces like TeachersPayTeachers and BetterLesson that enable educators to save themselves from the time-sink of creating Common Core-compatible lesson plans. Some teachers have netted over $1 million from selling their lesson plans to other teachers. And Terascore thinks the same opportunity exists around assessment.
The startup makes it easy for teachers to recycle questions that work and offer a browser-based, WYSIWYG-style test authoring tool for educators. Just as Mosaic was the first browser to make the Internet engaging by merging text and images, Terascore wants to be the same for teachers, allowing them to integrate images, links and videos into test to give them a level of interactivity — and keep them relevant. It also supports the inclusion of mathematic equations, and, to that point, will hopefully soon support Desmos.
Students, on the other hand, can self-register, making the process easy to get started and use on an ongoing basis. Up next, the startup plans to release an iPad app that offers a higher level of security, specifically for cheating prevention, allowing for locked-down secured testing that takes away students’ ability to look up answers.
Of course, students can still take a peek at their neighbors’ tests or use other devices, but it’s a step in the right direction. And this kind of proctoring, cheating prevention will become even more imperative as online course and learning platform proliferate — especially for those looking to offer credit. There has to be a better way to verify that students have done their own work.
Ultimately, Terascore is taking a three-pronged approach to bringing testing online through authoring (WSYWYG, the ability to embed images video, equations and question banking), delivery (control access, timing, locked-down browser app) and test results (scores and normalized grading automatically, reporting and self-assessment info after submitting). It seems an advantageous strategic approach to cover all the bases, especially given that Terascore’s competition seems to emanate largely from point solutions, and stalwarts/incumbents like Pearson.
Terascore was initially released in beta to select schools in mid-February and is being used in five different schools, which are collectively creating 500 tests per week. The platform is free for now; however, once they get some traction, the founders see themselves offering a freemium pricing model with premium features (like more robust collaboration, SIS integration etc.) offered for $7 or $9/month.
The company was founded by Balazs Moldovanyi, Adam Helybely, Zsolt Muller and Viktor Takacs, who began developing Terascore after selling their health education-focused startup to a multinational healthcare provider. The company is backed by Y Combinator and the YC-VC fund, but, because of the founders’ prior exit, Moldovanyi says, they have some runway and are looking to improve on the platform before worrying about raising more venture capital. Love to hear that.
More on Terascore at home here.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/fTn-bn6ifgU/
A Curiosity le da otro tabardillo
Safety Dance: Team diagnosed software issue that prompted weekend safe mode. Back to science in a few days go.nasa.gov/109o4kq
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) 18 de marzo de 2013 No bien acababa el equipo de Curiosity de recuperar el ordenador A de a bordo, que había tenido un fallo hace un par de semanas, cuando otro error informático puso al rover en modo seguro el pasado 16 de marzo.
De todas formas, según se puede leer en New Curiosity 'Safe Mode' Status Expected to be Brief en este caso el fallo fue localizado rápidamente.
Se trató de algo tan tonto como que la comprobación del tamaño de un archivo falló porque un error en el software de a bordo le había añadido los contenidos de otro archivo sin tener que hacerlo, así que lógicamente era más grande de lo previsto.
Al detectar esto el rover se puso en modo seguro a la espera de que se detectara y corrigiera el error.
En este caso no era grave, el fichero en cuestión no era importante, y con borrarlo y corregir el bug todo queda solucionado, así que a estas alturas Curiosity está ya prácticamente a punto de seguir trabajando como si nada, aunque a partir del 4 de abril, debido a que Marte quedará al otro lado del Sol desde el punto de vista de la Tierra, quedará cuatro semanas sin recibir nuevas órdenes para evitar problemas con su transmisión.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ciencia/a-curiosity-le-da-otro-tabardillo.html
Try 'Sloppy Typing' on This Reimagined QWERTY Keyboard
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The Daily Roundup for 03.19.2013
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Herschel telescope detects some of the youngest stars ever seen
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SecPoint Will Allow You To Access The Secretive Silk Road Black Market From Any Browser
Needs some pharmacologicals? Dirty deeds done dirt cheap? There’s an app (or website) for that.
For years, the Silk Road has been a source for black market dealings. Hidden on the Tor network, Silk Road is technically unreachable from the “normal” Internet without special secure software. Now, however, a few hackers who are attempting to remain nameless are working on a secure version of the Silk Road to bring it out of the dark Internet.
Take their claims with a grain of salt, but everything they described is technically possible right now.
The new site, temporarily parked as a Launchrock page, will “move to a new level of quality services using new technologies” and will not use the Tor network. It is, in short, an Etsy for illicit substances.
“We are a group of people interested in the free flow of soft drugs. National governments are cunning, prohibiting distribution of marijuana. We are businessmen,” said one of the founders in an anonymous mail translated via Google Translate.
“Access to the site is free. Sellers will give a commission of 5.10% of the transaction,” he said.
The infrastructure is apparently distributed and the servers will hold no data – only temporary information regarding current transactions. “All the traffic and all the contents of the virtual machine is encrypted,” he said. “The main server is in the cloud.”
“If the cloud server can not contact the load balancer for eight hours, it will automatically turn off and on again only with a key.”
The site will obviously attempt to sell pot and other soft drugs yet the secrecy of the participants and the popularity of Silk Road suggests that this could be used for all the things for which the Tor site is used. At least, I suppose, it will be nice for folks to finally be able to see what the Silk Road has to offer but, like the goings-on at Fight Club, it’s probably not a good idea to talk about things that are sold there.
We’ll have more from these lads as they roll out their service. Until then, have fun downloading the Onion Browser and checking out the Darknet.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/B46CCY1Noxo/
Battle for Your Wrist Estate Intensifies Amid Smartwatch Rumors
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Art-Obsessed 4chan Founder Chris “moot” Poole Opens Up About His New App DrawQuest
After spending most of his life tackling the world of digital media, 4chan and Canv.as founder Chris “moot” Poole has gone back to basics with a gamified iPad drawing app called DrawQuest.
The idea is that you spend most of your childhood representing and expressing yourself through art, whether it be pictures or words or some combination. But after a certain age, the majority of us become consumers, trying to pack the maths and sciences and spread sheets and meeting planners into our brain.
“Putting an adult in front of a blank piece of paper and a pen and ask them to do something with it is one of the scariest situations you can put them in,” explains Poole.
After founding Canv.as (post 4chan), Poole found that around 10 percent of users were using the remix feature, which lets you add text, drawings, and essentially meme-ify pictures and re-share them. They worked for a long time refining the webapp’s image editor, and realized that it wasn’t the quality of the editor, but a general insecurity to start creating that hindered growth of the feature.
That’s where DrawQuest comes in. DrawQuest offers a daily challenge, with a question and a template to start off the creative process. The editing tools are relatively simple, offering a marker, pencil, paintbrush, and eraser, along with a color wheel with the basic ROYGBIV + BW spectrum.
Every picture you complete and submit into the daily pool is an opportunity to get stars from friends and accrue coins, which can go toward more colors and other add-ons.
The most interesting feature is the ability to watch a replay of any given drawing, to see how the artist set up the shot and went step by step.
The whole motivation is giving people a place to start drawing and learning. Poole told TechCrunch that he never imagined how good some of the drawings would be, but that DrawQuest is more about giving people the tools they need to express themselves.
At the end of the day, it’s not as much about having a beautiful work of art that you frame on your wall, but about having an artistic outlet.
In its first two weeks of availability, the DrawQuest app has seen over 500K downloads with over 1 million quests completed by users. The app is available now and can be found in the Apple App Store.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/8wvXDCNJgGc/
biNu Opens Its Feature Phone Platform To Third Party Apps, Starting With Romance Publisher Harlequin
biNu, a startup that brings apps and content to feature phones and lower-end smartphones, is announcing the first partner in its third-party platform. And that partner isn’t just another tech company — instead, biNu is working with the UK division of romance publisher Harlequin to offer 8,700 books, including the romance titles published by its Mills & Boon subsidiary, in the biNu app.
The startup is backed by Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures. The company says it brings apps like Facebook and YouTube to an audience of 5 million active members, but for the most part it builds those apps itself. Now other companies can use biNu technology to bring their apps to the feature phones that remain dominant in parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
Even though biNu has been adding more social features, its initial focus was on distributing content, so from that perspective the Harlequin partnership makes sense. Through the deal, Mills & Boon now has a branded store in the biNu app, and people can use biNu Credits to make their purchases.
In the press release announcing the partnership, Tim Cooper, commercial director for Harlequin (UK), described this as “a real opportunity for us to reach women in global markets who don’t have access to high end tablet or smartphone technology.” And biNu co-founder and CEO Gour Lentell said there’s “an immense hunger for books, and particularly romance fiction” in the developing world.
Other companies interested in partnering with biNu should email partners@binu-inc.com.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/akNpRh1N854/
La que se nos viene encima con la Ley Lassalle
Cuando el gobierno de España se inventó la Ley Sinde, a instancia de la industria de contenidos y duramente presionado por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, los que saben de todo esto dijeron que no serviría de nada y que lo que había que hacer era actualizar la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual y adaptarla a los tiempos que corren.
Con el tiempo se demostró que en efecto la Ley Sinde ha resultado ser bastante inútil, así que la industria de contenidos vuelve a la carga, pero ahora con una reforma de la LPI abanderada por José María Lassalle que da miedito.
Según resume Julio Alonso en Reforma de la LPI: todos somos policías :
- La copia privada se ve muy reducida, hasta el punto de que no podremos hacer una copia de un disco que nos regalen, y se declaran ilegales usos que hasta ahora no lo eran. Así la industria podrá perseguir esos usos y el estado tendrá que pagar menos por los escasos casos válidos que queden.
- Se criminalizan los enlaces al equipararlos con poner a disposición una obra, algo que hasta ahora los jueces habían dicho que no era así. Claro que Google y de paso otros buscadores se libran porque este se las ha apañado para que los excluyan.
- Proveedores de servicios, medios de pago y agencias de publicidad tendrán que dejar de hacer negocios con quien la Comisión –a todos los efectos Lassalle, quien asume todas las competencias sancionadoras– les indique. Y si se niegan se enfrentan a multas que van de 30.000 a 300.000 euros, mucho más grandes que en otros delitos económicos mucho peores.
- Se sigue recurriendo al cierre o corte de acceso a los sitios contra los que se actúe.
- Los proveedores de servicios tendrán que identificar a los infractores a petición de un juez, algo que antes sólo sucedía para los delitos más graves.
Todo esto hecho mediante notificaciones por edictos, sin que sea necesario comunicarse nunca de forma directo con el denunciado, que con toda probabilidad se enterará cuando ya se haya tramitado todo y no tenga oportunidad ni de rechistar.
Hay más información acerca de todo esto en La nueva ley de Propiedad Intelectual convierte en policías de la red a los operadores y en Propiedad intelectual: Preguntas frecuentes sobre la Ley Lasalle, donde David Bravo habla de la que se nos viene encima en tono de humor, como hacen nuestros admirados Luthiers, pero no por ello sin soltar verdades como puños.
Es cierto que por ahora estamos hablando de un borrador escrito sin hablar con todas las partes y que es susceptible de ser modificado y que, al menos según dijo la Secretaría de Estado de Cultura a El Mundo «Habrá un periodo de información pública, que puede durar un mes, en un esfuerzo voluntario para mantener el diálogo y la transparencia», amén de todos los trámites parlamentarios pertinentes.
Claro que con la mayoría absoluta que ahora mismo ostenta el PP es poco probable que la cosa vaya a mejor, y además tal y como están las cosas, es muy probable que la Ley Lassalle pasé muy por debajo del radar del interés de la gente a la que le preocupa más –y lógicamente– la situación económica.
Así que la cosa no pinta nada bien.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/internet/la-que-se-nos-viene-encima-con-la-ley-lassalle.html
This leaked 5-inch ZTE handset could be headed to Sprint's LTE lineup
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Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch steps down, reportedly leaving for Apple
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Bring on the cat GIFs! Google adds animated filter to image search
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Facebook alums plan WiFi network to support 68,500 fans at 49ers' stadium
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CERN's 'The Particles' iPad App Is a Physics Geek's Dream
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Hulu Plus For Apple TV Gets a Facelift
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Apple Sets Sights on Augmented Reality for iOS Devices
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Google Adds Search Filter for GIFs, Transparent Images
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Redbox Instant app for Xbox 360 goes live for Gold subscribers
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Evernote Food for iOS now lets you share recipes, adds support for OpenTable reservations
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Consumibles que cuestán un riñón (o algo más que unos pocos mililitros de sangre humana, para el caso)
La tinta de impresora es más cara que la sangre humana ; actualmente va a unos 70 céntimos el mililitro frente a 40 que cuesta la sangre, 10 la penicilina o 2 céntimos el petróleo.
Una curiosidad que no por conocida resulta visualmente menos impactante si se ve en una bonita infografía, como perfectamente ha plasmado la gente de Nuesion. Si a esto añadieran el factor de cómo mienten las %$!*% impresoras el resultado es indignante.
(Vía Cool Infographics.)
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/arte-y-diseno/tinta-impresora-sangre-humana.html
India's World Startup Report Is Released And The Future Of Technology Looks Bright For The Country
Wrapping your brain around technology trends here in the United States, or even just in Silicon Valley, is a chore. Figuring out the trends and who the major players are in an emerging market like India is 10 times as difficult. Bowei Gai, former LinkedIn employee by way of his company CardMuncher being acquired, has done just that under his World Startup Report umbrella.
Brad Feld and Dave McClure have been leading the mentor and seed-funding charge in India, as well as the Valley, as of late, and shared some interesting thoughts with us based on what they were able to pull from the report.
Feld told us that the online and offline business differences in India are what stood out to him:
I wasn’t tuned into the difference between online and offline businesses in India. The friction in offline society has a tremendous impact on any businesses, especially ones outside India, whereas the online world has enormous opportunities that seem unconstrained in the near term due to the extremely low penetration of smartphones when compared to the high penetration of mobile.
Here’s the extremely detailed report, complete with population information, market opportunity and current players in the country:
The idea for the World Startup Report is that one will be done in all major markets that are up-and-comers in the tech space. This is no small task, but if this India report is indicative of the types of information that Gai and his team are mining, then good things are bound to happen. Its mission is to share these documents for free, to empower local startup “activists” to become ambassadors for their region and ecosystem. Once those leaders emerge, then all of the pieces will start coming together for places like India.
McClure talked to me about what it means to be more global as far as investing goes and why 500 Startups is starting to spend actual time, and money, in India:
The benefits and opportunities for getting in early (but not *too* early) in India are tremendous. For only small amounts of capital and resources (say, $1-2m/year?) we can get started now in India, and potentially see impact and returns within just a few years. Particularly seeing the rise of mobile / smartphone business in india, and the Indian middle class growth opportunity over the next 3-5 years is amazing.
Yes, mobile is something that you’ll hear about a lot when it comes to emerging markets. In India, mobile devices easily outnumber desktop ones, and all trends are pointing to smartphone adoption setting up booming potential in the country. Today it’s all about feature phones and SMS, but tomorrow, mobile apps will be bigger than desktop software ever was in the country for consumers.
It’s not easy to get involved in the startup scene in India without some learning and networking, as McClure explained to me. There’s a great bit of mentoring that will take place over the next few years to fuse all of the engineering talent that exists in India with consumer marketing expertise that hasn’t hit its stride in the country as of yet. This report is a great primer for anyone thinking about taking the long plane ride over to build some amazing things for consumers who are just getting ready for it.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/dMqnXldilgg/
DoJ now in favor of using search warrants to access user email
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Intel launches Media Server Reference Design to speed up set-top box creation
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Hulu Plus on Apple TV redesigned with simplicity and easy discovery features in mind
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La construcción del buque más grande del mundo comprimida en 76 segundos
El primer Triple-E de la línea Maersk es el mayor buque portacontenedores del mundo; es capaz de cargar con 18.000 contenedores normalizados (TEU) y desplaza 165.000 toneladas métricas. Comparativamente es el triple de grande que el Titanic, más o menos.
Se está construyendo en Okpo (Corea del Sur) y durante los trabajos la gente de Discovery Channel estuvo preparado un documental sobre todo el proceso, que podrá verse pronto; de momento han adelantado este espectacular time-lapse. Este primer titán de los mares es uno de los varios que ha encargado la línea de transportes marítimos y estará listo para su entrega hacia el mes de junio.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/mundoreal/buque-mas-grande-76-segundos.html
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