The first Irish Apple Teacher Institute (ATI) starts in Alexandra College next Monday, August 23rd.  So far, around 80 participants have signed up but there are still a few places available.  We’ll hopefully be live blogging from the event throughout the 3 days and you can also see projects as they are completed on EuroCreator.

Five days in and one major bug has been discovered on the iPad. For reasons as yet properly addresses by Apple, wifi on the device is proving to be buggy.

Many users, myself included, are reporting dropped wifi connections and wifi not working even when connected.

Apple support is suggesting advice along the lines of “switch it off and switch it on again”, which is creating much ire on the blogosphere.

I’d argue that it’s a new device and it’s bound to be problematic in some areas. Also, it’s likely to be a matter of days before Apple releases an update to deal with the issue.

For me, resetting network connections and renewing lease did the job.

Rumours are circulating that Google is to launch its open source Chrome operating system for developers next week.  Rumours about Chrome OS have been doing the rounds for several months now, but this one seems to be based in fact.

Chrome OS will initially target users of netbooks and will probably be available to consumers in early 2010.

Other rumours suggest that Google will launch a Mac version of its Chrome browser in early December.

Last week, we moved from Vicom Gateway to OpenDNS for the College firewall.  OpenDNS has a number of advantages over Vicom.  Most important of these are the fact that it is free and its web-based.

Students and staff attempting to access blocked websites will now see the following message:

Blocked websites can be automatically flagged for review if you believe that it is incorrectly blocked.  Students and staff can also contact Mr Mustafov or Mr Redmond in the IT Department if they believe a site should be unblocked.  This process is now much more streamlined and websites that have been unblocked by the IT Department will become available to all users in the College within about five minutes.

From The Irish Times, 20/8/2009

Not everyone is happy about the internet giant’s digitalisation of written works, writes ED PILKINGTON in New York

GOOGLE’S AMBITION to create the largest body of human knowledge on the internet by scanning millions of library books and turning them into a huge digital publishing venture is prompting growing opposition from authors and legal experts who object to its scope and copyright implications.

Opponents and supporters of Google’s plans are lining up for a confrontation that will come to a head on September 4th, the deadline for submissions to be lodged with a US court reviewing the scheme known as Google Book Search.

The court is considering whether to sanction the settlement of a class action suit that Google reached with publishers and writers groups last October. The settlement, approved by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, provides for a pot of $125 million that Google has agreed to pay to cover copyright infringements already committed.

The settlement would also give writers and publishers the equivalent of 63 per cent of future revenues generated by sales of digital books and other income, while Google would keep the remaining 37 per cent. Several groups and individuals are continuing to protest about the deal, saying it rides roughshod over authors’ rights and awards Google a monopoly over a huge body of work.

The latest objection, filed with the court yesterday, comes from a Washington-based lawyer and writer who specialises in class-action law and monopolies. In his 47-page complaint, Scott Gant argues that potentially millions of authors around the world are being coerced into accepting the deal without being fully informed about its implications.

“Anyone taking part in this project should be doing so as a conscious choice to participate, knowing fully what they are doing. In fact, people are being forced to hand over to Google some of their intellectual property often with no understanding of what that means,” Gant said.

Under US class-action law, authors and publishers who do not specifically opt out of the settlement are deemed to have signed up to it.

Google announced its plans five years ago, arguing that the project to build up an online archive of millions of books out of print was part of its mission to “organise the world’s information”. It has scanned at least seven million books, using cameras converting up to 1,000 pages an hour.

Most of the books, which must have been published before January 5th this year, have come from libraries and publishers in the US. Google has so far struck partnerships with 29 of the world’s biggest libraries, including those of Harvard and Stanford and the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

The Association of American Publishers, which originally sued Google in 2005 but has since signed up to the settlement, argues the deal is good for publishers, authors and the public. “This will allow the public to become familiar with millions of books that have been out of print and unknown to them or unavailable,” said the association’s Allan Adler.

The mass of conflicting opinions will be drawn together in the New York court before a hearing in October.