XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Wednesday, February 15. Today’s theme is windows of opportunity , and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming — Game industry growing pains. A five-person panel made up of executives from leading game and media companies discuss franchises, development costs, and an Xbox portable. And, Nintendo’s little DS just keeps expanding. Next up? A TV tuner and an Opera-based browser. That’s getting closer and closer to the $100 laptop and it does some cool stuff the Negroponte version won’t.

• Blogging, Podcasting, and Vodcasting — Wired has a nice article on blogging for dollars and the possibilities of making a living from blogging.

• Handhelds – As if we didn’t know it, the BBC gives us the news that media (TV, video, music, photos) are becoming the key elements for phone users.
• Social Networks – Virtual Presence.org is a good approach to the concept of social networking. It is a site focused on detecting the presence of others on the Web and connecting with them. The thoughts here range from avatars to Web mobs and the reading is interesting.

Now, here’s a recap of our favorite posts from the edublogging community from the past 48 hours.

• From David Warlick : Post on what a 1:1 school setting might look like and what tech support might be required to support it.
• From Alan Levine : Post on the dissonance of blogs in education.
• From D’Arcy Norman : Post on the mythical School Aggregator (now not so mythical).
• From James Farmer : Post on outstanding Edublogs.org posts.
• From Albert Ip: Post on reverse consumerism.