鄒景平/總裁學苑專欄作家

 今年美國對教育創新網站的投資比比皆是,除了與MOOC有關的高等教育網站投資引發高度關注之外,針對中小學生教學的網站,如提供教學管理平台的edmodo,提供教育界人士使用,近似臉書功能的lore
,近似pinterest的learnist,也甚受好評。

 無論edmodo、lore或 pinterest都是對中小學既有的教學環境與教材,提供網路上的溝通與分享環境,但針對目前教學內容中缺漏的生活技能,而提供補救的教育網站新秀—EverFi,則是集獨特且創新的特質於一身,也因此吸引許多名人投資。

 EverFi在營運模式上,也獨樹一幟,與其他線上教育創業公司不一樣,它提供的平台和課程是要收費的,收費的對象不是學校,也不是學生,而是向提供贊助的Fortune 500公司和基金會收費。

 EverFi主要提供生活方面的關鍵技能,例如財務規劃與管理,旨在幫助學校教育年輕人有關金融知識、學生貸款違約預防、申請稅收減免、信用卡債務等。其財務課程物件涵蓋了從初高中到大學再到成人等不同對象,因此可以說是教育領域的一個垂直領域。

 除財務課程外,還有提高數位學習技能的點火(Ignition)課程,內容包涵數位足跡、安全認證、網路霸凌、良好的發短信方法、開展線上研究、網上時間管理、創建多媒體作品、科技領域的職涯發展等。另外EverFi也針對酒精上癮、女孩子常會碰到的性騷擾等,也提供指導課程。

 學生若通過這些課程,將會獲得勳章,EverFi並會替提供贊助的企業在學校舉辦授證典禮,目前已經有超過三千五百個學校加入

 EverFi,有三百個學校直接向EverFi購買平台與產品,目前授證過的學生已超過四百萬人。

 EverFi期望能成為企業與學校、社區之間的橋樑,以贈送孩子們心智上的禮物為目標,增加小孩子的生活常識與見識,提高孩子使用網路的技能,這種創新的教育服務,將可成為企業做公益的新模式,目前已經有750家公司、基金會和大學合作夥伴支付了該服務的費用,包括Burger King、BBVA Compass、百事可樂等。

 EverFi的夢想是「讓孩子能夠更好的適應環境與生活」,這個想法與營運模式,大受投資者青睞,在2010年,EverFi已經獲得1100萬美元投資。最近又再次獲得1000萬美元B輪投資。

 B輪的投資人包括了亞馬遜網路書店的創始人傑夫•貝佐斯、Twitter聯合創始人Evan Williams、Google前CEO 埃里克•施密特的投資子公司Tomorrow Ventures以及Blackboard首席執行官Michael Chasen等。

 EverFi以突破性的教學內容和營運模式,吸引了投資者、合作企業和學校,讓世人眼睛一亮,未來發展,值得關注!(本文原載於總裁學苑)

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邁可.桑德爾(Michael J. Sandel)/哈佛大學教授

 有些東西是有錢也買不到的,但近年來,這種東西已經不多了。現在,幾乎每樣東西都可以拿來賣。以下就是幾個例子:

.監獄囚室升級:一晚82美元。在美國加州的聖塔安那及其他幾個城市,非暴力罪犯可以花錢換得較佳的居住環境--又乾淨又安靜的囚室,遠離那些沒付錢犯人住的囚室。

.單人駕駛得以行駛高乘載車道:交通尖峰時間每小時8美元。明尼亞波里斯市及其他幾個城市,正在研議開放單人駕駛付費行駛高乘載車道,以舒緩交通壅塞問題。收費的費率依當時的交通狀況而定。

.印度代理孕母提供的代孕服務:6,250美元。尋求代理孕母的西方夫妻,將該工作轉包到印度的需求與日俱增。在印度,這項服務是合法的,而且費用不到美國現行費率的三分之一。

.移民到美國的權利:50萬美元。外國人只要在美國高失業率的地區投資50萬美元,並創造至少十個工作機會,就可依法獲得賦予他們永久居留身分的綠卡。

.獵殺瀕臨絕種的黑犀牛的權利:15萬美元。南非開始允許牧場經營者出售可獵殺限量犀牛的權利給獵人,以鼓勵牧場經營者養殖及保護這種瀕臨絕種的動物。

.醫師的手機號碼:每年1,500美元以上。有愈來愈多的「特約」醫師,會提供自己的手機號碼及當天即可看診的待遇,給願意每年支付1,500至25,000美元不等費用的病患。

.排放一公噸碳至大氣中的權利:13歐元(約18美元)。歐盟經營的碳排放市場,允許企業購買或出售汙染的權利。

.你的孩子進入名校的入學許可:不詳。雖然價格並未公開,但是有幾家頂尖大學的高級職員向《華爾街日報》透露,他們學校會收一些非頂尖的學生。這些學生的父母要夠富有,而且很可能會提供學校鉅額捐款。

並不是每個人都買得起上述這些東西,不過現在有許多新的賺錢方法,如果你想賺點外快,以下是幾種新時代的可能性:

.出租前額(或你身體的其他部位)作為廣告看板:777美元。紐西蘭航空雇用了三十個人,要他們把頭髮剃掉,並在頭上貼暫時性刺青,寫著:「需要一點變化嗎?到紐西蘭來。」

.擔任製藥公司測試藥品安全的人體白老鼠:7,500美元。這個價位可能會高一點或低一點,端視測試藥物效果的程序侵入性有多大,或造成的不舒適度有多強。

.為私營軍事公司在索馬利亞或阿富汗作戰:從每個月250美元至每天1,000美元不等。待遇會依能力、經驗及國籍而不同。

.為那些想參加國會聽證會的說客在國會山莊外徹夜排隊,以確保說客次日有座位:每小時15至20美元。說客會付錢給排隊公司,而排隊公司會雇用遊民或其他人去排隊。

.如果你是住在德州達拉斯學區內的二年級生,看書:每本2美元。為了鼓勵閱讀,許多學校只要小朋友看完一本書,就會給他們錢。

.如果你有過胖問題,在四個月內減重十四磅:378美元。企業及健康保險業者提供獎金給減重或從事其他有益健康行為的人。

.為生病或年邁者購買壽險,在他們有生之年替他們支付保費,然後在他們過世後收取理賠金:有可能達數百萬美元之多(視保單內容而定)。這種以陌生人生命為賭注的型式,已經成為一個高達300億美元的產業。這些陌生人愈早死,投資者所得到的理賠金就愈高。

 在我們身處的這個時代,幾乎每樣東西都可以拿來買賣。過去三十年來,市場和市場價值以前所未有的方式掌控了我們的生活。我們並沒有刻意選擇這樣做,但這種現象似乎就這樣發生在我們身上。

 當冷戰結束時,市場及市場式思考享有前所未有的榮耀。這是可想而知的事。過去,沒有任何其他建立財貨生產及銷售的機制,曾如此成功地創造出富足及繁榮。不過,當世界各國在經濟發展上擁抱市場機制,卻也同時產生了另一種現象。市場價值在社會生活中所扮演的角色愈來愈重要。經濟學逐漸成為顯學。如今,購買及銷售的邏輯已不再僅限於有形的商品,它對整體生活的掌控程度愈來愈深。現在是時候開始自問,到底我們想不想這樣過日子。
(本文節錄自《錢買不到的東西:金錢與正義的攻防》,先覺2012年9月出版 )

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1:網頁快照 存在于Google數據庫中的所列網頁的文字內容,也就是上一次Google蜘蛛所抓取的網頁內容。

2:真正Google PR的計算和更新是動態的不間斷的過程 我們在工具欄看到的PR值只是”可見的PR值”,大致三個月更新一次。

3:為了使URL網址更規范化,應該將從下面這幾個網址

http://domainname.com
http://www.domainname.com/index.html
http://domainname.com/index.html

都要做301重定向到這個網址:http://www.domainname.com

4:沙盒效應 表現為一個新網站在Google里面很難得到好的排名,無論你怎么優化這個網站,就是很難在Google里面得到好的排名。Google的Sandbox有點像給予新網站的一個試用期。在這段試用期內,新網站幾乎無法在競爭比較激烈的要害詞下得到好的排名。通常沙盒效應會維持六個月,有一些針對競爭性不高的要害詞的網站,可能在沙盒里會短一些。行業競爭越高,沙盒效應會越長。

5:.edu 和 .gov域名具有天生的被信任的特征 原因是.edu 和 .gov域名在任何情況下都不可以被轉移,包括買賣,出租等任何形式的轉移。.edu域名只可以被教育機構注冊,.gov域名只可以由政府機構注冊。作者認為,這些特點使.edu 和 .gov域名最有可能被認為是可被信任的頂級域名。

6:Google比較討厭的作弊方式(惡意作弊,Google能很快查出)
要害詞堆砌
故意放上大量拼寫錯誤的要害詞
無邏輯的,一般是有軟件生成的文字
橋頁
試圖用垃圾軟件在其他網站產生大量垃圾垃圾
可疑的頁面轉向

7:Google蜘蛛爬行時有無限循環危險 比如說跟蹤某個網頁上日歷的鏈接,可能在這個日歷上總是有“下一個月”這個按鈕,產生無限循環。因為網頁程序可以無限制的生成下一個月的月歷,Google蜘蛛就出不來了。

8:在留言本里留下垃圾鏈接 這種技術對Google來說早就不起作用了。再比如有的作弊的人建立大量的網站,在這些網站之間互相鏈接,這對Google也不起作用。

9:補充材料是Google輔助索引的一部分

10:補充材料產生原因

第一:有網址規范化問題。也就是帶有www和沒有www的兩個網址版本都在數據庫中,那么其中一個就有可能被標為補充材料。

第二:有時候已經被刪除的網頁,也就是實際上應該返回404錯誤的URL,會被列為補充材料。或者域名已經過期了,也有時會被標成補充材料。

第三:有時候站長在改動網頁之后,新舊內容的兩個版本的網頁都會出現在Google索引中。而糟糕的是,其中一個會被標為補充材料。

第四:復制內容網頁。很多轉載或抄襲的內容會被標為補充材料。因為Google也沒辦法判定哪一個是原創的,所以有時候原創者也會遭殃。

第五:網頁上相同或相似的內容太多。比如導航系統占網頁內容比例比較大,而正文部分比較小。

11:補充材料在大部分情況下和網頁內容重復或類似有關。

12:補充材料會被更新,但是被重新抓取的頻率較低。

13:補充材料會繼續存在長達一年或更長的時間。

14:假如你想讓你的網站更多頁被收錄的話,你得多考慮你的鏈接的質量。

15:只要把你自己的網頁加入Google Notebook就可以輕易的從Google域名得到反向鏈接。

16:老網站一般不會進入沙盤,但太快增加新網頁和鏈接也可能會產生沙盒現象。

17:不僅高質量的鏈接重要,來自高度相關文件的鏈接可能也很重要。有時候可能要聯系競爭對手。

18. 工具條上的那個綠條不是當前PR值。

19:Google會把買賣來的鏈接效果歸零。

20:Google排名忽然下降,并且穩定在某個位置,說明Google發覺你的一些貓膩了。


http://www.jx828.com/mb/jiaocheng/15195.html

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Developers experience firsthand the end-to-end architectural support, high performance, compact code, power profiling, efficient debugging and ease of use of IAR Embedded Workbench
 
IAR Systems outlined today its extensive participation in the Renesas DevCon taking place from October 22 to 25 at Hyatt Regency in Orange County, California. A long-standing partner of Renesas Electronics Corporation, IAR Systems is the only software development tools provider to support all of the Renesas processors. Top CoreMark scores are proof points that continual optimizations and fine-tuning of IAR Embedded Workbench gives Renesas developers best-in-class development tools that are low power, high performance and small footprint.
In the booth, IAR Systems will showcase the latest optimizations to be included in the upcoming version of IAR Embedded Workbench with demonstrations featuring Renesas' RH850, RX, and RL78 families. In-depth developer information to be presented in a hands-on lab and technical class will offer techniques for debugging the RX architecture and compiling applications to include maximum functionality with the smallest amount of space:
Lab session: Debugging on RX with IAR Embedded Workbench
Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 1:30pm - 3:45pm
Class session: IAR Embedded system Workbench for Renesas processors
Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Developers can see how tool chain optimizations, debugging capabilities and coverage of all Renesas architectures can improve productivity, particularly as additional architectures are covered.
Full session descriptions available on: http://www.iar.com/en/IAR/Seminar-and-lab-at-RenesasDevCon/.
Editor's Note: IAR Systems, IAR Embedded Workbench, C-SPY, visualSTATE, The Code to Success, IAR KickStart Kit, I-jet, IAR and the logotype of IAR Systems are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by IAR Systems AB. All other products are trademarks of their respective owners.
About IAR Systems
IAR Systems is the world's leading supplier of software tools for developing embedded systems applications. The software enables over 14,000 large and small companies to develop premium products based on 8-, 16-, and 32-bit microcontrollers, mainly in the areas of industrial automation, medical devices, consumer electronics, telecommunication, and automotive products. IAR Systems has an extensive network of partners and cooperates with the world's leading semiconductor vendors. IAR Systems Group AB is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.iar.com
Word copy of release
You can tweet or share the release directly from the IAR Systems Press Center on HughesCom's website. Additional background materials are also available for download.

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Computers specifically designed to streamline one or a few operations are regarded as embedded systems. Also referred to as micro-controllers, they are typically known as special-purpose computers due to the fact that embedded systems are integrated into the hardware and mechanical components of a broad range of machines and devices.
Embedded control networks have been introduced into closely every facet of life including the healthcare and medical industry, entertainment, telecommunications, etc. With its important role in different devices like MRI machines and mobile phones, embedded systems are unarguably transforming the future and revolutionizing the way society lives.
History of Embedded Systems

One of the first recorded contemporary embedded networks involved the Apollo Project. Developed and facilitated by Charles Stark Draper of MIT’s instrumentation facility, an embedded system was integrated into the Apollo Guidance Computer. At that time, the Apollo Guidance Computer was recognized as the riskiest structure involved in the project as it only used the back-then newly developed monolithic incorporated circuits to minimize both size and mass.
Since its early use in 1960s, Embedded System networks were commercialized to the general market. The original price of $1,000 per piece was slashed down to $3, which permitted merchants and manufacturing companies to use it for commercial products including electronics and appliances. Since then, there has been a drastic emergence in processing capabilities and functionality.


Applications

Embedded systems have extensive applications in consumer, commercial, and industrial markets. Even military computers and devices use embedded networks.
Telecom networks use various embedded systems from phone switches for the network to telephones at the end-user. Meanwhile, computer networking utilized dedicated routers and network bridges to relay information.
Everyday devices like MP3s, printers, video game consoles, and digital cameras also rely on embedded systems to perform specific tasks and operations. Nearly all modern designs of household appliances like microwave ovens, toasters, dishwashers and refrigerators also integrate embedded systems to impart better versatility, efficiency and specs.
State-of-the-art HVAC systems are also being introduced with embedded computers. Networked thermostats yield better and more precise management of temperatures that can alter by season or day. Home automation is also embedded nowadays with wired and wireless systems that can be employed to manage and oversee lighting, safety and security, entertainment, etc. To see more on how embedded systems are being applied read this from Dell.
The transportation industry is another major industry that has found extensive use and application for embedded computers. Nowadays, flight operations and the latest designs of ground and air vehicles use embedded networks. New planes boast cutting-edge avionics like inertial guidance networks and GPS that also implement stringent safety requirements.
What’s New?

To add up to mainstream embedded networks based on compact computers, a new category of miniature wireless machines known as motes are rapidly gaining popularity as the area of wireless sensor networking emerges. WSN applies miniaturization all thanks to the high-tech IC design to compound complete wireless subsystems to complex sensors. This allows consumers and businesses to estimate a multitude of aspects in the physical world and respond using this data via IT observations and control networks. These so-called motes are entirely self-contained and usually run out of battery supply for a long period of time prior requiring battery charging or replacing. To see more on servers, sensors and other industrial computers click here.
Features

Embedded computers have intricate and extremely efficient power management technology. They also only need an infinitesimal volume of resources to effectively and consistently function. Performance specs for embedded computers are virtually absent thus enabling manufacturing companies to fabricate less-complex products at affordable prices. Oftentimes, the system is integrated into standalone items. Nonetheless, embedded networks are usually applied as subsystems as a network of a group of interacting parts in a product.
In terms of user interface, former versions of embedded networks rarely need any interface due to the fact that all information and programs were usually integrated into the device itself. Yet today, users are given much better interaction capabilities with embedded systems. A good example would be inputting data into a PDA.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/how-embedded-systems-are-transforming-the-future-0293881#yKQKxZzxQEY6bWUC.99

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