As some of us push the concept of open access to knowledge with initiatives like Creative Commons, the Internet Archive, and the Directory of Open Access Journals, we are all just a "Johnny Come Lately" compared to Gresham College in London, England.  They describe themselves in this manner:

For over 400 years Gresham Professors have given free public lectures in the City of London. The College is named after Sir Thomas Gresham, son of Sir Richard Gresham who was Lord Mayor in 1537/38 and who conceived the idea of building an Exchange modeled on the Antwerp Bourse. This was brought to fruition by Sir Thomas, on land provided by the City of London Corporation, and was given the royal appellation by Queen Elizabeth I.

Each month Gresham hosts five to ten new lectures, and makes them available online without charge. You may even download most lectures for optimized off line viewing. Topics range all over the spectrum, from "Proving Einstein right!" to "Debussy – Quartet in G minor, Op 10". Although not strictly engineering content, but given the value I have linked Gresham College on my Engineering Learning Wiki Seminar Page.

• Gresham College Lectures
  (click upon lectures tab | note European date format)

Did you ever have an image that really bugged you? For me it was the Nokia N800 (or N810) start-up image. Two hands stretched across the screen (see image below) … an adult reaching for a child’s hand. Every time I started up my Nokia, this image imprinted on my brain. My problem is that I am not a LINUX geek. I know enough to be dangerous, and thus was smart enough to avoid messing around with my operating system, but man … I hated that image!

Thus, started my research to change that file and become root on my Nokia’s LINUX OS (see all my Nokia Posts). Follow these instructions and you too can enjoy your own images at start-up! All of these commands assume that you are browsing via your tablet, not your PC or Mac. For the purposes of these instructions I often use "<" and ">" to set off and indicate commands. These symbols ARE NOT part of the input! All other symbols are as indicated, including spaces.

1. Visit the Repository for Nokia Tablets
   • Scroll down to Eko One
   • Click to Install
   • After the download completes and the catalog refreshes …
     • Enter your Nokia 800’s Application Manager.
     • Select <All Applications> and install <becomeroot>
2. Start up your Nokia’s X Terminal application
   • Type <sudo gainroot>
   • Do not shut down X Terminal
3. Backup and Create your own new Nokia system image files
   • You need to back up two files (the current system start-up images)
     • qgn_indi_startup_nokia_logo.png (800×480 pixels)
     • qgn_indi_nokia_hands.jpg (800×480 pixels)
   • These files are located in the following directory:
     • /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/
   • Now create one or two image files with the same pixel size
     • Give these files the same names as the originals
   • I like to use GPE-Filemanager to locate my files
     • This utility allows you to see Nokia LINUX OS files
4. Overwrite the old system files with your new image files
   • Go back to X Terminal
   • Change to the directory where your new image files are located
     • Command: cd /<directory name 1>/<directory sub-name 2>/<etc.>
   • Overwrite the Nokia system images using the copy command (this exact text)
     • cp qgn_indi_startup_nokia_logo.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/
       (and / or)
     • cp qgn_indi_nokia_hands.jpg /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/

In summation … here is the image I replaced, and my new start-up image (my cabin’s lakeshore in Northern Minnesota.

A phenomenal computer! Anne Bartlett-Bragg from down under has a great post on her Learning Technologies Blog about how the brain can work through data. If the following content intrigues you, browse on over to her blog. It has some great posts which review how the mind handles learning. Thus, quoting directly from Anne Bartlett-Bragg’s Blog:

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too!

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Note to my own children: Dad still says spelling IS important!
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My son was home this past week for Spring break from Wartburg College. As I was evaluating the Nokia N810, and I knew Carl (my son) has two trips coming up which which will take him out of the country, I asked if he would like to play around with the Nokia N810 for the week. Like father, like son … Carl was excited to play around with a new device. Given my son is part of the iPod generation, and owns an iTouch, I promised Carl he could post on my blog his analysis … unedited by me (I did bold a few lines!).

Okay, Carl … the floor is yours!
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Right after Christmas I purchased an IPod Touch, several months later I find myself wondering if I made a smart purchase. My father, as I am sure many of you know, thinks very highly of the Nokia Handheld product line. My father offered to let me try his Nokia n810 over my spring break and compare it with my IPod Touch.

• Ipod Touch – http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/
• Nokia n810 –http://www.nokiahowto.com/A4626058

The IPod Touch is an excellent device, and is considered extremely cool by most of my college colleagues. It is essentially the iPhone without the Phone. It has all the same features such as playing music, movies, showing pictures, a calendar, notes, wifi internet ability, and several other web-based programs. It also has 8 GB of storage space packed into its extremely small frame. What the IPod Touch does it does extremely well. Its Internet browser easily bests the Nokia, it is both easier to use and even more fun. In addition the IPod Touch utilizes special websites created for handheld devices while the Nokia does not. The operating software on the IPod is also extremely easy to use and never has any problems. The problem with the IPod Touch is that while it does several things really well, it only does “several” things. Apple has maintained a firm grip over what is allowed onto their IPod Touch. The device does not have blue tooth capabilities, or any other way to connect external devices. Internet phone services such as Skype are unavailable to users because there is no microphone as Apple tries to protect their iPhone.

Apple is in the process of releasing a new Software Development Kit that would allow 3rd parties to create applications for the IPod Touch. While this seems like an excellent idea the problem is that Apple will still maintain its strong control over the IPod Touch by insisting that all third party applications be distributed through itunes, giving apple complete control over what types of applications they want to be available. In addition Apple will be able to skim the profits of any company producing applications. This release is not what avid apple users were hoping for, instead of receiving an upgrade to allow hundreds of new free third party applications they receive limited increase in applications for a fee.

The Nokia n810 on the other hand is everything that the IPod Touch is not. It is completely open to third party applications. You can connect a variety of different devices via blue tooth to exponentially expand your devices capabilities. Skype offers free Internet calling and dirt-cheap rates for all other calls. GPS is also embedded and can be used with a wide array of map from all over the world. I could go on but I believe my Father has done a relatively good job of outlining the many excellent features of the Nokia n810 (see his Nokia tutorials and posts)

In Conclusion the IPod Touch could potentially be as good as the Nokia n810. The difference between the two devices comes down to how they have been managed. As long as Apple continues limit the ability of the IPod touch it will never be able to live up to its full potential. The final result is that the Nokia n810 offers consumers a far superior product based on the actual value as opposed to simply being “Cool”.
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Do you have a varied interest in music? Are there days when you appreciate listening to Bluegrass? or Classical Piano Music? or Folk Music? Then the Northstar Nerd has a tutorial which will expand your musical horizons, and just as importantly help you find safe, free, music downloads.

Take five minutes and watch my cNet Music Download Tutorial. A valid question is: "Why focus upon cNet?" In this instance, there is a simple answer. cNet is a safe and trusted web portal / company. They insure that any download from their web site is virus, worm, and spyware free. This is important. I also use cNet for software downloads for the exact same reason.

Their music download site allows the user to browse by musical genre, and find fine musicians and groups who have made some of their music freely downloadable. In this manner, you can access and  obtain excellent music … just not from "today’s popular artists" as defined by the media. Given cNet is trying to make money, and has numerable links to paid content, the tutorial will help you focus upon music in which you have interest and is free! (access cNet music download site)

• Thus … the Northstar Nerd’s Expanding Your Musical Horizons Tutorial

For the purposes of this learning module, I used the Stationary Willberries. This excellent folk trio heralds from the Isle of Mann in the U.K.
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