I was recently reviewing the seven newsletters of the Computers And Teaching [CAT] project. I previously commented on an article that predicted the cottage industry of home working that we see around the world today. I kind of missed The Internet, because we were thinking of supercomputers and terminals in those days, but by 1975 our thinking had been changed by the appearance of hobbyist home computer kids. That’s another story.
Here are the seven Computers And Teaching newsletters from the project. [Read more…]
I just reviewed the seven archived newsletters of my Computers And Teaching [CAT] project, written in 1972 and 1973. During that time I led other graduate students, faculty and staff at Northwestern University and the Vogelback Computing Center (a big centralized supercomputer facility) in promoting online educational uses of the computer. There was no network to speak of in those days…computers were just beginning to be able to “dial up” and chat with each other, and the computer terminal was still remarkably new. I was a new faculty member, having just completed a PhD in Computer Science, and my mentors were 
Digital nomads, you can finally and really be the system administrator for your cloud (and other) servers from your iPad. Since December, each time I’ve left town, I have intentionally left my MacBook Pro at home in favor of my iPad. I found that just having a few specific apps allowed me to fully administer my cloud servers from the pad. Please note that a bluetooth (or other) keyboard is required for some of these apps to function fully. But generally I can do everything I need to when I’m on the road. 
When I got my iPad and started carting it around everywhere with me, it first went into the big backpack along with my MacBook Pro (15”), and since I’m used to carrying 20+ pounds in the pack, adding the iPad didn’t bother me at all. It’s a good workout. And when I’m flying internationally, I take one wheeled bag and the backpack, so it’s standard-issue for me.