Jwill's Log

Read Article (from Boy Genius Report)

In addition to the home button disappearing from the iPad, we’re told that this change will make its way over to the iPhone as well. Our source said Apple employees are already testing iPads and iPhones with no home buttons on the Apple campus, and it’s possible we will see this new change materialize with the next-generation iPad and iPhone devices set to launch this year.

That’d be one of the dumbest decisions Apple ever made. Remember the iPod shuffle that didn’t have any buttons? They put the buttons back in the next revision and touted it as a ‘feature’. If anything, I think the iPhone should have one or two more buttons, not fewer.

Read Article (from Boston.com)

Antonio Cromartie has a way with words, calling Brady expletives. I think the funny part about all this is that all Tom Brady ever says in return is “I’ve been called worse” or “we’re just here to play football on Sunday”. A trash talking team is trash itself. I’ve grown to hate Rex Ryan and his team more and more just because the guys talk way too much.

Tony Massarotti thinks it’s fear. I’m inclined to agree.

EDIT: Apparently Boston.com now has a “We Love New York” page where fans are sharing “faint praise” for the Jets. I love it.

Source: boston.com
Read Article

The stem-cell treatment restored sight to more than three-quarters of the 112 patients treated, Pellegrini said this week at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting. The patients were followed for an average of three years and some for as long as a decade, Pellegrini said.

Science is amazing. It’s a very short read; go check it out.

Source: Washington Post
Read Article

Michele Kerr talks about criteria that should be met if teachers are assessed by student test scores. I agree with her completely. One of my favorite parts is what she says about her first point, only including students in teacher evaluations that are present at least 90% of the time:

Without the missing students, the tests won’t yield a complete picture of learning. But the tests’ purpose is to yield a picture of teaching, which isn’t the same thing as learning. Teachers can’t teach children who aren’t there.

And further, her reasoning for positing that students who cannot score at a “basic” proficient level should be “prohibited from moving forward to the next class in the progression:”

Students who can’t prove they know algebra can’t take geometry. If they can’t read at a ninth-grade level, they can’t take sophomore English — or, for that matter, sophomore-level history or science, which presumes sophomore-level reading ability. Not only is it nearly impossible for these students to learn the new material, but they also slow everyone else as the teacher struggles to find a middle ground.

That point alone could solve the issues of high school students who can’t read at a high school level. If they can’t read that well, why are they in high school? Who failed to do their job by promoting them? They will just fall through the cracks more and more until someone actually sits them down and gives them intensive reading programs until they get it. Because they can be taught, no matter what it takes.

There’s so much more good stuff in this article and I could quote every word she says. It’s a really good read.

Source: Release Candidate One
Read Post

This is an awesome post about having a sort of “Services” menu for the iPhone so you can take things from one application and use them in another (for example, send an e-mail with the selected text or upload a selected image to Facebook). Having a universal menu such as this would be amazing because it would reduce the need for app developers to create these “droplets” and services on their own and simply make something that any application can use right out of the box. I hope Apple’s listening.

Read it for yourself, and if the jargon gets to you, just watch the video.