Edison on the Pivot

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

- Thomas Alva Edison

Looks like creative people have been thinking about the “pivot” for a long time!

iPad 2 in the Kindergarten Classroom

Living in a technologically progressive area and being in the business, our children are no strangers to computers and gadgets at home. They also have computer lab at school where teachers guide them to educational game and activity websites.

But this story is a little different. A school district in Auburn, Maine has decided to shell out $200,000 for the purchase of 285 iPad 2 tablets for Kindergarten students and teachers. The decision was based on a video that demonstrated the progress made by Kindergarteners who were previously struggling with literacy basics. The school committee immediately saw the benefit of the new tool in the classroom.

iPads cost less and are easier to maintain than laptops. The small size is more manageable and the touchscreen interface is intuitive for younger students to use.  There is also a broad range of inexpensive educational apps.

What are your thoughts on this level of technology in the Kinder classroom?

Props to the Geekbeat.tv Podcast where I first heard this story.

International Pi Day!

Yep, International Pi Day just passed!  My daughter and I memorized Pi up to a bunch of digits last year.  Alas, we gave up after about 20-30 digits!  Perhaps this song will inspire us to give it another go soon!

“It’s a Book” – but can’t we love both?

Lane Smith is an author and/or illustrator of a few children’s books enjoyed by our family.

Enjoy this cute little promo animation for his new book, It’s a Book!

Blog Action Day – It’s all about WATER

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event to bring people worldwide together to post about a worthy cause. This year, the invite is to debate, brainstorm and raise awareness around the issue of clean water.

Given that I’m not an expert, I’d like to take this opportunity to do my small part to simply raise awareness on the issue with family, friends, colleagues and the 5 people that know about my blog…

Water is the lifeblood of our planet – and us humans are just part of the system that needs to address sustainability for the environment and all living creatures. This is a global issue requiring a global conversation. Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water (an estimated 1 in 8 people). Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

I’ve included just a short list of topics below that change.org has assembled on the question of Why Water? Take just 5 minutes to read up on one or two items that interest you:

• In July, to address the water crisis, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right over. But we are far from implementing solutions to secure basic access to safe drinking water. Read More »
• Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.Read More »
• That cotton t-shirt you’re wearing right now took 1,514 liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813 liters. Read More »
• The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86% of which will never be recycled. Read More »
• Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year. Read More »
• Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water. Read More »
• Students in developing countries lose 443 million school days each year due to diseases associated with the lack of water, sanitation and hygiene. Repeated episodes of diarrhea and worm infestations diminish a child’s ability to learn and impair cognitive development. Read More »

I, myself, started with the topic I found most accessible: bottled water. When I followed the link on the topic, I found an article about Annie Leonard, who I recalled was behind The Story Of Stuff, a popular short film on consumerism and the manufacturing lifecycle, also well worth checking out. Here is The Story of Bottled Water:

And to be fair (sort of), here is an entertaining counterpoint video (supposedly) by The International Bottled Water Association, The Real Story of Bottled Water:

Of course we’re all going to drink bottled water now and then as a convenience, but perhaps you can decide, as my family did years ago, to drink filtered tap water and fill containers when you’re on the go. Make your own judgement about bottled water based on the water quality in your area.

As mentioned, the above are just a few topics in the larger discussion of clean water worldwide, dive deeper at change.org – Blog Action Day: Why Water?

The topic of water is also quite hot in the technology and clean energy space. If you happen to be in the Bay Area, the Stanford/MIT VLAB will be hosting a talk in just a few days on October 19, 2010: Blue Tech: Is Water’s Dry Spell Over? moderated by Susan Leal, Harvard University, Senior Fellow; Co-author of Running out of Water.

The talk by 4 Panelists will explore the following topics:

* Why are there so few VC investments in water given the demonstrated need for new solutions?
* Are there opportunities for IT to play a bigger role in water?
* Where and what are the biggest opportunities in water for entrepreneurs?
* What can cleantech entrepreneurs learn from water start-ups?

Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone advising a new kind of startup – an elementary school

As if being the co-founder of Twitter and involved in all kinds of other technology companies didn’t keep him busy enough, Biz Stone has become involved with a new kind of startup. Biz agreed to be an advisor to his friend and colleague Abdur Chowdhury‘s new venture – a school in San Francisco that emphasizes math, science and art with small class sizes – all coming together in the past few months. By the way, Chowdhury is Twitter’s Chief Scientist.

The Alta Vista School opens in three days with sixteen children from Jr Kindergarten to Kindergarten and First grade. New grades will be added each year as the current batch of kids advances.  Biz notes another twist – classes will be conducted in English and playtime in Spanish to add a bilingual experience.

Being involved myself with two young children in a parent participation, hands-on learning program called Indigo in the Oak Grove School district (and working in technology) – I have a great appreciation for Chowdhury’s vision and the support of Biz Stone.  Our Indigo Program also started with a small group of dedicated founding families and has been growing year after year.

Great work guys and best of luck!

Read Biz Stone’s blog on his experience at: http://www.bizstone.com/2010/09/startup-time-machine.html and also check out the article the San Francisco Chronicle ran a few days ago covering the school: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/31/BAR61EMIJP.DTL

Entrepreneur School in a Box – Videos and Podcasts from Thought Leaders

In my last blog, Iteration Improves Innovation – Simple Advice from 3 Technology Thought Leaders, I presented some tips shared by an amazing panel of speakers at the last MIT/Stanford VLAB talk. While my friend George and I were mingling with other attendees before the talk, one gentleman spoke of a regular series that takes place weekly during Stanford’s academic year – The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. He indicated that it is open to the public.

While we plan to look out for the schedule in the upcoming fall an winter sessions, We were very excited to learn that Stanford shares over 1,600 videos and podcasts online at their ecorner website: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/. There is an amazing lineup of superstar speakers in a broad range of fields including technology, finance, biotech, mobile, education and government.

I’ve already downloaded and begun listening to at least a dozen podcasts, including Marc Andreessen (Serial Entrepreneur/Ning/Loudcloud,Netscape), Randy Komisar (Author/KBCP), Steve Case (Revolution/AOL), David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals), Mark Pincus and Bing Gordon (Zynga), Mark Zuckerburg, Jim Breyer and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Eric Ries (Lean Startup movement) and a bunch more…

Now to find the time!

Which videos or podcasts look interesting to you?