Linux vs. Windows: It's all relatives

Jan 05, 2009 GMT

My 12-year-old daughter, Cleo, received a brand spanking new Flip camera for Christmas. Unfortunately, it was a little anticlimactic for her because nothing happened when she plugged it into the Acer Aspire One she received for her birthday in October. I was mentally prepared for this hurdle and told Cleo that I'd figure it out while she was off visiting her grandparents in Houston. I hoped that with the growing popularity of both the Flip camera and Linux netbooks, someone would have a quick little fix or workaround for this incompatibility issue. The day after Christmas, I drove Cleo through an ice storm to the Kansas City airport for her 9:55AM flight, which was delayed by two...

Book: Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves

Jan 05, 2009 GMT

Have you read Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves, by Julie Wosk? On her NCWIT blog, Julie writes: " Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves features images of artificial females created by men that also reveal men’s stereotypes and fantasies about women -- picturing them, for example, as a beautiful playthings and cheerful domestic servants. But as the book’s images also reveal, many of today’s female game avatars and anime heroines have completely challenged these old ideas." I'm filing this book in my "Why didn't I think of this when I wrote my thesis?" file.

NCWIT article: Tools for Role Modeling

Jan 05, 2009 GMT

If you're not sure how you can help increase participation by girls in technology, check out the handy Tools for Role Modeling resource at the NCWIT site. Jennifer Nelson offers a concise list of suggestions, which includes links to NCWIT's Programs-in-a-Box and the Systers online community. Jennifer also points out that the DREU: Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates Student Application is due by February 15:"The objective of the Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) is to increase the number of women and students from underrepresented groups entering graduate studies in the fields of computer science and engineering. This highly selective...

Books by Women Computer Scientists

Jan 05, 2009 GMT

The Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research provides a list of 369 books by women computer scientists. If you notice that a book has been overlooked, send in your suggestion. Currently the list includes everything from AI to Theory of Computation.

Reminder: SCALE 7x Call for Papers WIOS

Dec 23, 2008 GMT

Don't forget to submit your proposals for the SCALE 7x Women in Open Source mini conference. The deadline is December 31st!

Get ready for your closeup: I'm Linux

Dec 22, 2008 GMT

The Linux Foundation recently announced a community contest to create a Linux promotional video. The winning video will be unveiled at the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit in April 2009 in San Francisco, and the winner receives a trip to Tokyo in October 2009 to attend the Linux Foundation Japan Linux Symposium. The contest opens on January 26th and closes on March 15th, and the community is encouraged to vote and comment on entries. Although the contest launches in late January, you can start uploading videos now. Contact amanda (at) linuxfoundation if you have any questions. Break a leg!

Technology 2008: The year in review

Dec 15, 2008 GMT

BlogHer's technology blogger, Virginia DeBolt, takes a look back at The Most Interesting Science and Technology News of 2008. Her picks include touch phones with apps, the "technology President," the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Wii Fit, the mainstreaming of Twitter, and going green. Virginia asks readers, "What news from the world of science or technology did you find most interesting this year?"