Wolfram|Alpha goes live

Wolfram|Alpha, a computational knowledge engine — as opposed to a search engine — went live Friday.

Give it a try here.

Facebook phishing issue

BY THEO KARANTSALIS

If you get a message from a Facebook “friend” that says “hello” and lists a link called ponbon.im, do not click on it.

Other sites that are suspect include 151.im and 252.im.

If you do navigate to one of these sites – as many students are doing today – you may wind up on a phony Facebook login page.  If you logon to the phony site, then you risk being hooked by the phishermen.

The library will offer classes this Fall 2009 that teach more about how to navigate the Internet and protect yourself from phishing schemes.

More information will be posted soon on how to sign up for LIS 2004 and LIS 1001 — Internet Research classes – to be held at North Campus and the EEC.

Children’s author Angela Lane addresses elementary students via YouTube

This video was made especially for the elementary students at Thena Crowder Elementary School in Miami to be shown at the EEC’s Open House on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.

Local prosecutor discusses new book on overcoming obstacles

Kionne McGhee, an assistant state attorney in Miami, met with librarian Theo Karantsalis on Friday at MDC TV’s North Campus studio to discuss his new book, “A Mere I Can is American.”

Watch the video here:

Windows 7 RC Released Today

By Theo Karantsalis

Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system was released to the public today, according to the company’s Twitter feed.

I do not recommend installing Windows 7 RC over another Windows OS. You should do a clean install and select the 32- or 64-bit version that best suits your needs.

“Listening to our partners and customers has been fundamental to the development of Windows 7,” said Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows business at Microsoft. “We heard them and worked hard to deliver the highest quality Release Candidate in the history of Windows.”

You can download a copy of Windows 7 RC here.

You can become a fan of Windows 7 RC on Facebook here.

Wolfram|Alpha to be released this month

BY THEO KARANTSALIS

A knowledge engine called Wolfram|Alpha, showcased at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society last Wednesday, will respond to Internet user’s queries using computational thinking algorithms.

“The goal is to find a way to make the systematic knowledge that we’ve accumulated in our civilization computable,” said Dr. Stephen Wolfram, a British inventor.

Wolfram said that he wants users to be able to compute whatever can be computed about the world.

For example, you can divide the molecular weight of caffeine by water.

“It should give you a result for that,” said Wolfram.

“It’s a pretty big project.”

Wolfram|Alpha is scheduled to be released next week.

Google News Timeline Released

Google Labs, a test area for users to share their ideas directly with Google, released two new products on Monday, according to The Official Google Blog.

News timeline allow users to expand searches  by organizing information chronologically.

“You navigate through time by dragging the timeline, setting the time scale to days, weeks, months, years, or decades, or just including a time period in your query (i.e., ‘1977′),” according to The Official Google Blog.

On The Net:  Google News Timeline

Library reaches out to Miami Lakes’ students

Librarian Theo Karantsalis reaches out to students at Miami Lakes Educational Center. JOE RICCO/LEARNING RESOURCES

 

Miami Dade College’s North Campus held an Expo 2009 at Miami Lakes Educational Center on Tuesday, Mar. 24, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Representatives from each of the college’s academic and student service departments were on hand to welcome over 1,600 students.

Microsoft to release Internet Explorer 8 today

By THEO KARANTSALIS

MIAMI — Microsoft will release an updated version of its Web browser, Internet Explorer 8, on Thursday at the MIX09 conference for web designers and developers in Las Vegas.

The new IE8, as it is better known, focuses “on top customer needs, including security, ease of use and performance,” according to a Microsoft press release.

The browser can be downloaded in 25 languages at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8 starting at noon EDT on March 19.

Microsoft said that IE8 is easier to use, faster and offers leading-edge security features in direct response to people’s increasing concerns about online safety.

“Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser — safety, speed and greater ease of use,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.

“With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match.”

Producer Ari Gold to live-blog with MDC students during film screening

Live-blog with Ari Gold about his hit movie, Adventures of Power, on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at 5 p.m. EST.

Ari will be live-blogging from New York and answering questions from Miami Dade College students as the movie is screened.

Please join us at the EEC located at 6300 NW 7th Avenue, Miami.

Admission is free.

Live-blog with us here.