CHRISdotTODD

Did you know that many colleges and other educational institutes have made audio and video content free through the iTunes store? iTunes U was created in collaboration with colleges and universities that were looking for ways to expand and enrich their curricula with digital content. Standford University lists 13 different categories of materials from Science and Technology to Health and Medicine to Personal and Professional Development . There is also commencement addresses from 2005 - 2007. MIT has used iTunes U as one of the delivery channels for their OpenCourseWare initiative . This is a big investment; take for example the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science category, where MIT offers 161 tracks. If you move outside the classroom, there are offerings from the New York Public Library , PBS , and others. You can find over 20 Jazz oral history video interviews and 13 audio presentations in the Small Business category at New York Public Library. I have just scratched...

If you are a regular reader, you know I am a big Firefox fan. I just wanted to let folks who didn't know that Firefox is soon to release their next version, Firefox 3. Further, they are on their 5th beta right now, so I know they are close. With that though, a simple reminder: wait for others before you install any new or beta release on your primary or main computer . As much as we might want to new features and functions, it's rarely worth the risk of causing a real headache by happening to have the one machine that the software runs into trouble with. If you want to learn about what new features are waiting for you in Firefox 3, there are several sites that have posted reviews of the beta releases. Laptop Magazine posted an article on Friday and they talk about the following features: Star button One-click site info Improved OS integration Tags Resumable downloads Matt Asay of CNet also posted a brief statement on beta 5, and despite the typical bugs of a beta, he's c...

Did you see Computer World's, " The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills " published last month? Some have been on the list for some time, such as Cobol -- it's needed just long enough to finally get companies off those legacy systems. What surprised me is even the mention of non-relational DBMS and non-IP networks. I guess I'm a bit ignorant in the fact they these two still exist in places. Then there is the more obvious, Cold Fusion. Of course with open source solutions and better scaling solutions, Cold Fusion is on its last legs. I remember when it was a good choice, because the open source alternatives and Microsoft had not matured; now, if you're not a Microsoft shop, you're probably using open source. For the rest of the items, couldn't we get something that is a little more "on it's way out," not already gone? take for instance the hobbyist turned pro developer. In the early days of the Internet, HTML was easy, and it didn't...

I recently ran across a blog posting at The Simple Dollar titled 30 Essential Pieces of Free (and Open) Software for Windows . They are not quite all essential; perhaps 10 are. Many I have heard of, but a few are new to me. Of course it lists popular open source software such as Firefox , Thunderbird , and Audacity , but there are some other good ones including Filezilla (FTP client), Handbrake (watch DVDs locally without the DVD), and FreeMind (mind mapping). Check this blog post and see what you might be paying for that you could get for free and legal.