Tom Caswell

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  • I’m attending P2PU!

    I recently signed up for an online course called “Copyright for Educators.” What is truly unique about this course is that there is no official teacher. The course is being offered by P2PU (Peer-To-Peer University). The About page states that, “P2PU blurs the boundaries between students and teachers.” I’d like to think that my PhD has been a transition from student to teacher, researcher, professional, or all of the above. But why should this be limited to a PhD program? Why not allow others to join in?

    Why am I taking this course?
    I have worked for the OpenCourseWare Consortium for the past two years, and the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning for two years before that. I have been involved in many aspects of the OCW movement, from managing the development, testing, and localization of eduCommons (a popular OCW software platform) to creating the actual OCW courses with professors at Utah State University. As part of the process of creating OCW courses, content must be licensed in such a way that allows it to be freely available via the World Wide Web. This requires the best possible understanding of global copyright as if applies to education. I am not new to the issues of copyright in education (and have taught units on copyright in my own high school and university courses), but I feel there is still much for me to learn in this area.

    While I am still working out the details of getting credit for this course in my Instructional Technology PhD program at Utah State University, I don’t think that will be a problem. I see names like Jane Park and Ahrash Bissell from ccLearn among those listed on the team and advisory group. If the folks at Creative Commons can’t facilitate an excellent course on copyright, who can? The course outline appears well-structured. I think I’m in for a treat. If any faculty from my department read this and think it sounds interesting, I would love to hear from you. BTW, I need 1 credit of independent study 😉

  • Cyanogen 4.0.3 (make that 4.0.4) Android ROM Now Available

    Update: Make that 4.0.4. Two days later, they have cranked out another update. Obviously I am not going to try to keep up. Just install the Cyanogen Updater from the Android Market and keep up with the updates that way. Or just check here:

     http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537204 or on the new cyanogenmod.com site. Nice!

    (v4.0.4 – stable version, updated 8/28):
    Download:     http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/upda…0.4-signed.zip
    MD5Sum: 8c5a4ed37a8856054f22988372295fc8

    The new Cyanogen 4.0.3 Android ROM is now available for both G1 (HTC Dream) and the MyTouch (Magic). But of course, if you have Cyanogen Updater installed from the Android Market, you would already know that. I recently switched from the JF ROMs to Cyanogen, and have never looked back. Both are great ROMs for rooting your Android phone and have common features such as multi-touch (eventually coming for all Android users in a future “Donut” release), but Cyanogen seems more stable to me. It also has the big added advantage of having Apps2SD built-in, so if you can figure out how to create an ext2/3/4 partition on your microSD card you have virtually unlimited storage space for apps. (I recommend giving no more than 1GB to the ext3 partition — you’ll never need that much space anyway.)

    Here’s what’s new in 4.0.3:

    Changes in v4.0.3
    * More Donut guts: Bluetooth and audio updates
    * Fixed swap-free-notify for compcache
    * Tweaked kernel (trying out SLQB)
    * Lots of small stuff recently added to AOSP
    * Possible fix for the phone number parsing issue

    (v4.0.3.1 – stable version, updated 8/27):
    Download: http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/upda…3.1-signed.zip
    MD5Sum: af0c84983e8e14c9d9c7c99cb1078e78

    More details on Cyanogen here:

     http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537204

  • Found a Recipe for Legoland-style Apple Fries

    I rarely post recipes on my blog (Callie is the expert in that department), but I recently came across a recipe for the apple fries they serve at Legoland (I think they were the best thing in the whole park). So I looked it up here and grabbed the recipe. I tried it out this evening, and it was very good! Not as crispy as the ones from Legoland, but the taste is really close. Here it is:

    Apple Fries:
    8 medium Granny Smith apples, sliced
    1/4 cup butter
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

    Melt butter in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Saute 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are tender. Serve with ice cream (or Callies magic butter cream frosting).

  • Rooting your Android G1 or MyTouch phone just got a lot easier!

    The folks at AndroidAndMe.com recently wrote this great tutorial showing how to use FlashRec app to root your Android G1 or MyTouch in about 6 minutes. Here is the video:

    Update: I have switched from JF 1.5.1 to the latest Cyanogen ROM (v.4.0.2). You should NOT use Apps2SD with this ROM because it already has built-in support for using your microSD card for app storage (you still need to set up a separate ext partition so it will work). More details are available here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537204

    (v4.0.2 – stable version, updated 8/22):

    Download: http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/upda…0.2-signed.zip
    MD5Sum: 9c316180ca61d5cb8728ad3c4f43bc97

  • 10 months with an Android

    Back in October 2008 I started using Google’s first Android phone, the T-mobile G1. By the end of January 2009 there were 800 Android apps compared to over 15,000 iPhone apps. Of course, the iPhone had been around for well over a year at that point. But I think 2009 will be the year that Google Android really comes into its own as more than a dozen new models of Android phones are introduced. There are definite pros and cons to going with an open platform like Android, and I hope I can offer a realistic view of the good and the not-so-good that I have experienced with my Android G1 phone so far.

    New Favorite Apps

    I am still very happy overall with my G1. Especially now that I have root access to my phone I can do even more, like tether my laptop to my phone’s Internet connection via wifi. At the 1-month mark I made a list of my top 20 Android apps. That list has changed quite a bit, so here is my new list of top 20 Android apps. Interestingly, only 5 of these apps were on my first list 9 months ago. They are marked in bold. All the apps below are free unless marked otherwise.

    1. Where – Displays movies, weather, etc. based on your location. It also has voice recognition and Yellowbook search, which presents you with address and phone numbers of businesses based on your location which you can then call or look up on a GoogleMap with a click or two.
    2. BeyondPod ($2.99) – A Podcast app that allows you to manage podcasts and even update them over wifi. (So iPod Touch, why can’t you do this?)
    3. Sky Map – Allows you to see stars, planets, and constellations just by holding your G1 in the direction you want to look (including the ones beneath the horizon). The digital compass, accelerometer, and GPS to move your phone around and see different areas of the sky. A very cool example of what augmented reality (AR) apps can do.
    4. Wikitude – This is another great augmented reality app, but this one lets you “see” cities and landmarks close to you by holding the phone in front of you and turning in any direction. Selecting the names on the screen pulls up the web page for that city or point of interest in wikipedia.
    5. Places Directory – Google’s version of Where. I can’t decide which one I like best so I use them both. Places uses you location to look up restaurants, shops, parks, and other points of interest. You get addresses and phone numbers you can use to locate or call whatever it is you are trying to find.

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