The US Senate has voted to give law enforcement agencies access to web browsing data without a warrant, dramatically expanding the government’s surveillance powers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The power grab was led by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell as part of a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which gives federal agencies broad domestic surveillance powers.
“Today the Senate made clear that the purpose of the PATRIOT Act is to spy on Americans, no warrants or due process necessary,” Dayton Young, director of product at Fight for the Future, told Motherboard.
Raise your hand if you agree that the Senate GOP’s vote to permit the FBI to review your browsing history without a warrant is a flagrant government overreach ✋
Spatial is a startup that enables people to meet through augmented or virtual reality. It’s a little similar to the now defunct Facebook Spaces, except it has much broader support. You can use VR or mixed-reality headsets from a myriad of brands—from Microsoft’s HoloLens and Nreal’s Light to the Oculus Quest—as vehicles to meet in virtual spaces.
Spatial is announcing that it’s launching support for web browsers on desktops, Android, and iOS. Oh, and the platform is now completely free and open to everyone.
Recommendations for Video editing software (easy & cheap) to edit, cut, splice, voice/ sound over videos. I need better than a free phone app, but I’m also not looking to make Hollywood level movie productions either.
Responses: Camtasia, Active Presenter, DaVinci Resolve, Screencast-o-matic
At our physical iLRN conferences, the first day of the conference (Sunday) is typically devoted to one or more guided social tours of local attractions in which attendees have the opportunity to socialize and get to know one another while immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of the host city and/or region. As this year’s conference will take place entirely online, we are instead offering the opportunity for attendees to sign up for small-group “Guided Virtual Adventure” tours of 50 minutes in duration to various social and collaborative XR/immersive environments and platforms.
Proposals are being sought for prospective Guided Virtual Adventure tour offerings on Sunday, June 21, 2020. Tour destinations may be:
– a third-party XR/immersive platform with which you are familiar (e.g., Altspace, Mozilla Hubs, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Somnium Space, OrbusVR, Second Life);
– a specific virtual environment that you, your institution/organization, or someone else has developed within a third-party platform;
– a platform that you or your institution/organization has developed and/or specific environments within that platform.
There are no fees involved in offering a Guided Virtual Adventure tour; however, preference will be given to proposals that involve environments/platforms that are freely and openly accessible, and that are associated with nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. Where possible, it is strongly recommended that multiple offerings of the tour are made available throughout the day so as to cater for different time zones in which the 8,000+ iLRN 2020 event attendees will be based.
Companies wishing to offer Guided Virtual Adventure tours involving their commercial products and services may submit proposals for consideration, but the iLRN 2020 Organizing Committee reserves the right to, at its discretion, place limits on the number of tours of platforms/environments of a certain type or that address a particular target audience/application vertical. In doing so, they will prioritize companies that have purchased a sponsorship or exhibition package.
– Guided Virtual Adventure proposal submission deadline: May 18, 2020
– Notification of proposal review outcomes: May 21, 2020
– Presenter registration deadline: May 25, 2020
– Deadline for providing final participant instructions: June 1, 2020
– Guided Virtual Adventure Day: June 21, 2020
Other upcoming iLRN 2020 deadlines (see conference website for details):
– Immersive Learning Project Showcase & Competition – expressions of interest to participate due May 14, 2020 (deadline extended, no further extensions will be announced)
– Practitioner Stream oral and poster presentations – 1-2 page proposals, not for publication in proceedings, due May 18, 2020 (will not be extended)
– Workshops, Panel Sessions, and Special Sessions – 2-3 page proposals for publication in proceedings as extended-abstract descriptions of the sessions, due May 18, 2020 (will not be extended)
– Free registration deadline for non-presenter educators and students – May 23, 2020
International Data Corporation says it expects the number of AI jobs globally to grow 16% this year.
a new report released Wednesday, IBM found the majority (85%) of AI professionals think the industry has become more diverse over recent years
3,200 people surveyed across North America, Europe and India, 86% said they are now confident in AI systems’ ability to make decisions without bias.
A plurality of men (46%) said they became interested in a tech career in high school or earlier, while a majority of women (53%) only considered it a possible path during their undergraduate degree or grad school.
XR Storytellers: Learners Making Immersive Stories
LIVE NOW
Thursday, May 7, 2020 from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM (CDT)
PRESENTATION
Our team will share lessons learned in collaborating to create immersive experiences that accelerate STEM education. Find out how students achieve classroom learning objectives by designing AR experiences. Watch a demonstration of how an immersive scientific story is co-created by students and teachers in a virtual learning environment. Explore novel techniques for supporting learners to demonstrate understanding and share knowledge using spatial technologies and storytelling principles. We invite guests to share their questions and perspectives on the possibilities and limitations of XR storytelling to facilitate relational connections to curriculum and instruction.
PRESENTERS: Sarah Cassidy | Janelle LaVoie | Quincy Wang | Poh Tan
We are a team of VR learners from the University of Saskatchewan and Simon Fraser University in Canada. Our research explores innovative uses of immersive technology for STEM education and pro-social change.
Everyone knows and agrees that “Blackboard is Ugly” but Blackboard simply won’t die because having been in the market the longest they are in someways best (if minimally) adapted to provided the services that colleges need.
Freeware suffers from a lack of development support, and as Blackboard imitators age they too grow less intuitive complex and outdated in their presentations of information.
I do think there is a solution, and it comes from the early days of the internet, a concept largely abandon except in the world of mathematics where we still use LaTeX. That solution is MARK UP LANGUAGE
Description: Join Marialice and Jaime as they join GlobalMindED to present, Solving Problems in Local, Global, and Digital Communities in AR. During their webinar, they will Identify and solve real problems in local, global and digital communities using augmented reality. Participants will gain a better understanding of how digital citizens can confidently and positively engage with emerging technologies to think critically and act creatively. Examples of students using the global goals to make a positive impact on society will be shared.
