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"Canonical has announced the availability of the Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix, a new variant of the popular Linux distribution that has been customized for use in enterprise environments. It is based on Ubuntu 11.10, the current stable version of the distro, but it offers a slightly different set of packages in the default installation." Tags: tt381 opensource businessmodels linux article remix - Eingang

This article is actually a tutorial covering all the basic aspects of the JavaScript language. "Why a re-introduction? Because JavaScript has a reasonable claim to being the world's most misunderstood programming language. While often derided as a toy, beneath its deceptive simplicity lie some powerful language features. 2005 saw the launch of a number of high-profile JavaScript applications, showing that deeper knowledge of this technology is an important skill for any web developer." Tags: tt284 javascript programming tutorial tt284block2 reference webdev - Eingang

"A broad strokes definition: The magic circle is the idea that a boundary exists between a game and the world outside the game. Outside the magic circle, you are Jane Smith, a 28 year old gamer; inside, you are the Level 62 GrandMage Hargatha of the Dookoo Clan. Outside the magic circle, this is a leather-bound football; inside, it is a special object that helps me score -- and the game of Football has very specific rules about who can touch it, when, where, and in what ways. Is the magic circle a verifiable phenomenon? A useful fiction? A ridiculous travesty? And who really cares? This essay endeavors to answer these questions by looking at the history, the use, and the misuse of the term. And along the way, I offer some correctives to how we think about the concept, about game design theory, and about the more general study of games." Tags: t151 gamedesign opinion article - Eingang

You know Open Source is trendy when… "Cybercrooks have embraced the open-source model in the development of banking Trojans following the release of source code for the infamous ZeuS cybercrime toolkit last year. Multiple variants of a Zeus Trojan called Citadel have emerged over recent weeks as VXers have embraced a new development lifecycle - dubbed open-source malware." Tags: tt381 opensource webdev article malware - Eingang

More: You know Open Source is trendy when… "Open source and open standards are the direction for UK government IT, the civil servant leading the government's technology change agenda has said. Liam Maxwell, Cabinet Office director of ICT futures, said Tuesday in London that open source has grown up and it's time to dispel lingering misconceptions about this technology and development process." Tags: tt381 opensource government article - Eingang

"Having pestered someone working on a large healthcare web site in the UK to release some of their browser statistics I got a tweet today that they released an infographic (available here as a PDF). The site has had over 2 million visitors in 2011" Tags: statistics browsers tt381 webdev webdesign mobilecontent - Eingang

"The game industry has found it difficult to divorce itself of the negative legacy that linked video games to increased aggression and reduced attention spans. Although most of those studies have been thoroughly debunked, there is a fresh dose of research results coming out, all of it looking into the positive aspects of the activity we adore." Studies mentioned: promotion of language learning, relationship improvement, attention spans not affected, helping the elderly, visual functions improved. Tags: gaming studies article resource videogames attention relationships language learning - Eingang

"A community-powered website for blind and vision-impaired users of Apple devices. Seek and share information on the accessibility of apps developed for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and the Mac. Read and share guides, tutorials and tips to help VoiceOver users get the most from their Apple devices." Tags: H810 accessibility applications blind visuallyimpaired resource iOS iphone iPad iPod - Eingang

"The Document Foundation (TDF), which launched in 2010 to develop LibreOffice, has published statistics that illustrate the project's rapid growth. Approximately 400 total developers have contributed code to the project. The number of contributors who are active each month generally ranges from 50 to over 100." Tags: TT381 opensource collaboration statistics article - Eingang

Fascinating look at how our brains remember or forget things and how we can consciously improve our ability to retain details by being aware of these processes. Tags: learning memory article research cognitivescience - Eingang

"Open Advice is a knowledge collection from a wide variety of Free Software projects. It answers the question what 42 prominent contributors would have liked to know when they started so you can get a head-start no matter how and where you contribute." Tags: tt381 opensource communitybuilding programming book resources - Eingang

YouTube version of the Revolution: Open Source documentary about free software, GNU Linux and the history of the Open Source movement. Very accessible and interesting if you have the time. It's about 1.5 hours long. Tags: TT381 linux opensource video - Eingang

"There are two main technologies that can put colour text and graphics on paper; inkjet and laser. Though inkjet makers like Epson and HP have tried to push inkjets into the lower end of the office market, it’s still dominated by colour lasers, due to their speed and the high permanence of solid toner over liquid ink. Colour laser printers have dropped dramatically in price in the last few years and a canny shopper can find budget models for under £100 on-line. Beware, though, that these loss-leader prices often come with high running costs. Here are ten, capable colour lasers you should consider for a short list." The Reg in November, 2011 examined 10 colour laser printers, including costs per page! Use this to get an idea of good laser printers to consider for printing your T320 module notes. Tags: t320 printers reviews resources - Eingang

"…PDFs are the format-of-choice for many administrative tasks, both on campus and off. …As a state employee, there’s a ton of paperwork anytime I want to do…just about anything (cf. Neal Stephenson on toilet paper policies). One of the things I need, then, is a lightweight way to read, markup, and share PDFs with colleagues. A new favorite in this category is iAnnotate PDF, a $9.99 iPad app that puts markup and annotation tools at your fingertips." An introduction to iAnnotate, a dedicated iOS PDF annotation tool. This is an early article. Some things have been improved since then. Tags: t320 applications e-readers annotation iOS - Eingang

Follow-up to 2010 introduction to iAnnotate, looking at features and capabilities added later. This was written in November, 2011. Tags: t320 applications e-readers annotation iOS - Eingang

Resources for making your Word documents, PowerPoint presentations. and PDFs more accessible from the JISC TechDIS team in the UK. Tags: H810 accessibility how-to resources - Eingang