The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Obama wants to transform US schools through faster Internet Posted: 06 Jun 2013 05:46 AM PDT
Obama will tour a middle school in Mooresville, North Carolina, which has improved its test scores and graduation rates through digital learning, an approach favoured in countries such as South Korea, which is phasing out printed textbooks by 2016. "This is about transforming teaching and learning in this country," an administration official told reporters ahead of Obama's trip. The average American school had a slower Internet connection than the typical American home, the official said, and many schools could not stream an Internet video in more than one classroom at the same time. The administration wanted schools to have access to high-speed broadband and wireless within five years so students could use devices at their desks, the official said. This approach would allow students to explore the ocean floor from their desks, collaborate in groups, learn at their own pace, and "help them overcome what is actually a great challenge in the American classroom today, which is boredom", the official said. The programme also would create a huge market for devices and software, another official told reporters. It does not need approval from Congress. Instead, the Federal Communications Commission would make changes to its E-Rate programme, a subsidy of US$2.3 billion (RM7.1 billion) a year that allows schools and libraries to get discounted rates for Internet service. Administration officials said the effort would require a one-time investment of several billion dollars, which could be generated within a few years by a fee on home phone bills of less than US$5 a year for each home. – Reuters |
| Prosecutors push for ‘kill switch’ to prevent smartphone thefts Posted: 06 Jun 2013 01:43 AM PDT
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said they would meet on June 13 with representatives of the four largest smartphone manufacturers. They said they would ask the industry to place "kill switches" on mobile devices to render them inoperable when stolen, eliminating any incentive for theft. "With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft in 2012, this has become a national epidemic," Gascon said in a statement. "Unlike other types of crimes, smartphone theft can be eradicated with a simple technological solution." Gascon and Schneiderman said representatives of Apple Inc, Google Inc's smartphone maker MoTtorola Mobility, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft Corp would attend the summit in New York. Last month, two men in San Francisco severely cut a 27-year-old tourist's face and throat while robbing his iPhone. In April 2012, a 26-year-old chef was killed while being robbed of his iPhone on his way home to the Bronx. "The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime, and increasingly, incidents are turning violent," Schneiderman said. "It's time for manufacturers to be as innovative in solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have reshaped how we live." Representatives for Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Google and a cellphone trade group either declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment. Gascon and Schneiderman have both criticised the cellphone industry for what they perceive as its perceived unwillingness to solve the escalating problem. About 50 per cent of San Francisco robberies involved stolen mobile devices last year, Gascon said. A recent study found that lost and stolen cellphones cost consumers US$30 billion (RM92.5 billion) in 2012, his office said. Some companies have measures in place to reunite smartphones with their rightful owners. For instance, Apple has the application Find My iPhone, which allows a user to track a missing device on a map and remotely lock it or erase data. A nationwide database has been created for stolen cellphones, but law enforcement officials say its use is limited because many stolen devices are shipped overseas or modified so they cannot be easily identified as stolen, according to a New York Times report from May. – Reuters |
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